The landmark Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement may only have been signed two months ago, but Mexico's pivotal role in trade between Asia, the Americas and Europe dates back centuries. The surprise is that it took Latin America's second-biggest economy so long to rediscover its historic place as a crossroads for international trade.
A modest monument in Manila's historic district of Intramuros tells the story. Bearing the image of a Spanish galleon, it commemorates how, for two and a half centuries starting in 1565, Mexico was part of the longest running trans-Pacific trade route in history.
