Brian Snyder / Reuters Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves the stage after answering questions from Governors at the National Governors Association summer meeting in Providence, R.I. on July 14, 2017.

Back in 1969, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau scored laughs at the Washington Press Club when he compared living next to the United States with sleeping with an elephant.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has put a new spin on his father's famous words about the Canada-U.S. relationship.

"No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast... one is affected by every twitch and grunt," he said at the time.

'Strong and peaceable, but still massively outweighed'

The current prime minister referenced that line Friday while delivering a keynote address at the National Governors Association meeting in Providence, Rhode Island, where 32 state leaders were in attendance.

Trudeau touted Canada as a "confident, creative, resourceful and resource-rich nation," that is wealthy and influential by global standards. Yet the "world's only superpower," with a population "roughly 10 times our size," is just next door.

"While you, my American friends, may be an elephant, Canada is no mouse. More like a moose. Strong and peaceable, but still massively outweighed," Trudeau said.

"And so we need to work harder to make our points, to advocate for the interests of Canadian families in a way that will connect down here."

While you, my American friends, may be an elephant, Canada is no mouse. More like a moose. Strong and peaceable, but still massively outweighed.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Pitching free trade and the thinning of the Canada-U.S. border, Trudeau lauded what he called the "most successful economic partnership in the history of the world." He highlighted that nine million U.S. workers depend on Canadian trade and investment.

He also said two-thirds of U.S. states have Canada as their top export market and scored applause once he started listing some by name, from Alabama to Wisconsin.

And he said Canada welcomes the "imminent modernization" of the North American Free Trade Agreement, long promised by U.S. President Donald Trump.

"NAFTA isn't perfect, no such agreement ever is. We think it should be updated and modernized as it has been a dozen times over the past quarter century," he said. "And I have every expectation that it will be for the ultimate benefit of working people in all three partner countries."