Canada's Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, held their first face-to-face meeting Monday in Toronto.

They discussed shared priorities and underlined the importance of agricultural trade for both the Canadian and American economies.

MacAulay put forward the balanced, highly integrated, and mutually-beneficial agriculture trading relationship between the two countries.

He committed to working with U.S. Secretary Perdue to keep this agricultural trading relationship strong and growing.

"I look forward to working closely with secretary Perdue and the new U.S. administration to further strengthen our important agricultural relationship. Canada will continue to develop our ties with the U.S. in areas including trade, science, regulations and the environment," MacAulay says. "I'm confident that we can reinforce this relationship in a balanced manner, allowing us to boost farmers' bottom lines and create good, middle class jobs on both sides of the border."