Comercio internacional y justicia como sinónimos de bienestar: La búsqueda de un término medio entre el multilateralismo y el minilateralismo

This article seeks to find a balance between a classic multilateralism and a modern minilateralism in the context of international economic relations by adopting a phenomenological and hermeneutic methodology. This text argues that such a balance allows to achieve justice, order, and generally, global well-being. In this vein, a working hypothesis is put forward as long as international trade agreements include provisions protecting human rights in the shape of erga omnes obligations and considering human dignity as supreme source of law and juridical value, the chance of eroding the system by public choice typical maneuvers is mitigated. Likewise, the cold goal of trade liberalization set forth in Article II of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade is provided with a sense of justice. This approach to international trade agreements suggests that fair trade and free trade can be synonyms.