Germany's relationship with Japan would prove to be less fruitful. Japan seized foreign businesses in North China and Manchukuo, and German interests were treated no better than others. While negotiations were ongoing in mid-1938 to address the economic problems, Hitler signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, effectively nullifying the German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936. The Soviet Union agreed to allow Germany to use the Trans-Siberian Railway to transport goods from Manchukuo to Germany. However, quantities remained low, and the lack of established contacts and networks between Soviet, German, and Japanese personnel compounded the problem further. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, Germany's economic goals in Asia were conclusively ended.