Cultural exports

Like everyone else, The Cave has been watching the slow decline of US power and influence unfold with a mix of morbid fascination and utter horror.

While the impact on the world order of such a shift is murky at best,  the cultural consequences could be fascinating (and significantly less terrifying). If US culture is on the way out as the domineering global force it undoubtedly was, something will need to replace it.

On social media, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is taking off alongside similarly sourced habits like drinking hot water and wearing house slippers. This isn’t just some performative TikTok trend - Google searches for TCM in the UK and US doubled in December.

Korea has been having a moment for years, powered by Netflix hits like Squid Game, KPop Demon Hunters, and Can This Love Be Translated?. The UAE has leaned into food crazes like Dubai chocolate and Dubai chewy cookies, as well as getting a little too into sports.

Australia, meanwhile, has "one of the worst creative goods trade deficits in the world", according to Kate Fielding, the CEO of arts and culture think tank A New Approach. 

There are plenty of reasons for this, but the recent decision not to help fund the arrival of the Michelin Guide to boost the flagging restaurant industry is a decent microcosm of them all.

US cultural influence isn’t going anywhere in the short term. We only need to look at the lingering impact of British culture - the Royals, the Beckhams, Harry Styles etc. - long after the country fell away as a dominant power for evidence of how such habits endure. 

But there is undoubtedly an opportunity for other countries and cultures to step up into an increasingly open and competitive arena. For those who grasp it, at least.