America’s Adversaries Are Attacking Sideways
The commentary states that when the US imposed tariffs on China in April 2025, Beijing restricted exports of rare earth elements and magnets, and that when the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February, Tehran expanded the battlefield to the Gulf states. It cites the August discovery of an explosive-laden drone at Germany’s Leipzig Airport as part of a pattern in which Beijing, Tehran and Moscow use horizontal escalation to challenge US influence. The author defines horizontal escalation as the expansion of a conflict to new geographic regions or domains of competition.
Why it matters: The commentary argues that horizontal escalation is a geoeconomics and security challenge because adversaries operate across trade, military and supply-chain domains, requiring the US and its allies to coordinate responses.