During his time in China, Trott got to know the head of the German military mission, General Alexander von Falkenhausen, very well, and as both men were disillusioned by the pro-Japanese line taken by the "Auswärtiges Amt" after the very pro-Japanese and anti-Chinese Joachim von Ribbentrop became Foreign Minister in February 1938, bonded over their shared disapproval of Ribbentrop and his anti-Chinese foreign policy line.