TORONTO — German leader Olaf Scholz said Monday he’s working as fast as he can to reduce Germany’s dependence on Russia for energy, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a business case would be needed to send gas from Canada to Europe.

Scholz, who took over from Angela Merkel late last year, is in Canada this week and will sign a deal with Trudeau to supply clean hydrogen to Germany.

“Canada plays a really, really central role for the development of green hydrogen,” Scholz said. “That’s why we are very glad to be able to expand our cooperation in this area on this occasion too.”

He said Germany would like to be a partner of Canada in the future export of green hydrogen, but in the meantime natural gas will be needed. Trudeau, however, played down the likelihood of direct gas exports to Germany due to logistical constraints and costs. Trudeau said it would need to make business sense.

“There are a number of potential projects that are in the books for which there has never been a strong business case,” Trudeau said. “It needs to make sense for Germany to important LNG from the east coast.”

Scholz thanked Canada for allowing the export, despite sanctions on Moscow, of a refurbished turbine that Russia said it needed to continue providing natural gas to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.

The fact Russia has yet to request the needed turbine, which is currently in Germany, showed the Russian claims about technical issues hampering gas supplies to Russia were a ruse, he said.

“Russia is no longer a reliable business partner,” Scholz said. “It has reduced gas deliveries everywhere in Europe, always referring to technical reasons that never existed. And that’s why it’s important not to walk into (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s trap.”

Russia’s Gazprom reduced gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany by 60% in June.

The state-owned gas company cited alleged technical problems involving the turbine that partner Siemens Energy sent to Canada for overhaul and couldn’t be returned because of sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.