U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is a “gentleman” whose brash statements on the campaign trail shouldn’t trouble Canadians worried about a renegotiation of NAFTA, former prime minister Brian Mulroney said Tuesday.

Mulroney and Trump have spoken to each other since Trump’s victory last month, and the two have known each other for over twenty years, Mulroney told reporters before a reception in honour of him becoming a commander of the French legion d’honneur.

“The Donald Trump I have always known … is a gentleman,” said Mulroney, who spoke mostly in French during his remarks. Trump’s violent comments about women’s bodies shook the presidential election in October but didn’t stop him from winning on November 8.

“He’s the father of five children,” said Mulroney. “You don’t have one who smokes, drinks or takes drugs. They’re wonderful children. For me, if someone is able to make $10 billion and raise five children like that, it speaks well of him.”

Trump’s campaigned on protectionist trade policies but NAFTA is not in trouble, Mulroney said.

“He wasn’t talking about Canada,” said Mulroney, who said the protectionist rhetoric was directed at the U.S southern border. “He was talking about the wall, immigration, drugs.”

As a trade deal now over 20 years old, it’s natural that NAFTA should be reviewed, he said.

Canada-U.S. relations are on a good footing, Mulroney said, judging by the relationship between Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s so far.

“When you’re living next to a giant, one with a lot of power and authority, it’s always wise to be vigilant and prudent,” said Mulroney. “But I don’t think that Mr. Trump and his administration views Canada with any hostility at all. On the contrary, my impression is that he views Canada with favour and no one that I can see is looking to pick a fight.”

When he spoke Trump, Mulroney said he told the president-elect to make Canada an important part of U.S. foreign policy.

“My guess is that is what’s going to happen, they seem to be well-launched,” he said, of Canada-US ties.

Trumps’s policies targeting immigration, as well as similar statements by Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch, aren’t causes for concern either, said Mulroney. Trump, he insisted, won’t govern the way he campaigned.

“In a leadership race, people look to distinguish themselves from one another,” he said of Leitch and the Conservative race. “I haven’t followed the campaign but I presume that she wants — and the others want – to stake ground so that we talk about her and her policies.”

Mulroney is the first Canadian prime minister to receive the French honour, which is being awarded in part because of Mulroney’s role in establishing La Francophonie, a multilateral forum for the world’s French-speaking nations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also at Tuesday’s event to meet Mulroney.