SpaceX and its rival Blue Origin are among four US companies to have cancelled attendance at a Paris space summit next week, France’s ministry for higher education, research and space said Thursday. Stoke Space and Starcloud also pulled out, it added. “It’s hard not to link it to the rumours of pressure,” a ministry spokesperson told AFP. Politico reported earlier that the White House was pressuring American space firms to ditch the meeting on Sept. 9 and 10. “We obviously want to continue working with our U.S. partners and allies, even though strategic about-turns and political pressures sometimes make the task needlessly complex,” they added. Politico reported that, in a private call, a White House official had told companies -- including billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Stoke Space, K2 Space and Astra -- that attending the two-day event “could look like tacit support for EU policy positions”, three anonymous sources familiar with the call told Politico. The White House official also told industry representatives that “France did not coordinate with the U.S. on the summit, accused the country of ‘anti-competitive practices’, and suggested the event’s panels were not designed to include the American perspective and may diminish U.S. industry efforts,” said Politico’s sources. Politico said two of the sources were connected to space companies and the third was in politics. The White House did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment on the story.
