Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay held his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue on Monday.

The meeting took place in Toronto.

The two discussed shared priorities and underlined the importance of agricultural trade for both the Canadian and American economies and the competitiveness of the sector.

“I look forward to working closely with Secretary Perdue and the new U.S. Administration to further strengthen our important agricultural relationship," said Minister MacAulay. "Canada will continue to develop our ties with the U.S. in areas including trade, science, regulations and the environment. 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.”

During the meeting, Minister MacAulay emphasized 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.

Canada and the U.S. are each other’s largest trade partner for agriculture and food, with bilateral agriculture trade reaching $62 Billion (CDN) in 2016.