This paper aims to provide a non-technical explanation of the concept of trade in value added, with particular reference to East Asia. The trade in value added approach allows us to redefine the relationship between countries of origin and destination in international trade, and thereby addresses an important issue of measuring international trade in the face of growing production sharing among different countries. In contrast to the orthodox concept of trade balances based on foreign trade statistics, it focuses on the value added contents of a traded product, and considers each country’s contribution to the value added generation in a production process.