Joe Rogan podcast the 'best place to sell Americans' on the tariff-free trade pitch, Pierre Poilievre says
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre broke new ground for a federal party leader and possibly a Member of Parliament this week by sitting down for an interview on the Joe Rogan Experience.
“Fought for Canadian workers and Canadian interests on the world’s biggest podcast,” Poilievre captioned a photo on X of him and the podcaster hoisting a 71-pound kettlebell adorned in the Canadian flag at his studio in Austin, Texas.
“Thank you @joerogan for an amazing conversation. Let’s get tariff-free trade.”
The episode is scheduled to go live on Thursday afternoon. Its length is unknown, but most of Rogan’s episodes run two to three hours.
Are you ready for this? pic.twitter.com/Oa4looZNEb
— Anaida Poilievre (@AnaPoilievre) March 18, 2026
Last spring, Rogan said during an episode that Poilievre had turned down an invitation during the federal election.
“Wouldn’t do it, thought it was too problematic or whatever,” Rogan told his guest, bow hunter and endurance athlete, Cameron Hanes.
Poilievre has been in the U.S. this week advocating for tariff-free trade for Canadian businesses and workers, with stops in Michigan to meet with auto industry leaders and Houston to parley with energy sector executives. He was also set to meet with state, energy, agriculture and business leaders in Austin, the state capitol.
Thursday morning in New York City, where he is scheduled to deliver a keynote address to the Foreign Policy Institute and meet with U.S. investors, Poilievre said the upcoming Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement negotiations were his motivation for accepting Rogan’s invite.
“ I wanted to maximize Canadian leverage going in, and one of the biggest leverage points we have to fight for tariff-free trade, to fight for our auto, steel, aluminum, and lumber workers, is the goodwill of the American people,” he said outside the New York Stock Exchange in Lower Manhattan.
“ So I use the podcast to argue in favour of removing those tariffs, not just because it’s great for Canadian workers, but also because it’ll make life more affordable for American consumers.”
Pre-drop scoop: Joe loves Canadians, and maple syrup. pic.twitter.com/WtxUDihjn5
— Anaida Poilievre (@AnaPoilievre) March 18, 2026
The podcast, he said, is the “best place to sell Americans” on the idea.
He called Rogan “a great guy” and reiterated that they shared a “great conversation” on tariffs, affordability and strengthening both nations’ economies.
He also revealed the kettlebell from their photo was one he gifted to the UFC host known for his strict workout regimen.
“He’ll think of Canadian workers who did the artisanal craftsmanship on that beautiful piece of equipment,” Poilievre said.
Fought for Canadian workers and Canadian interests on the world’s biggest podcast.
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) March 18, 2026
Thank you @joerogan for an amazing conversation.
Let’s get tariff-free trade.
Sign up to watch it first: https://t.co/Tf0URq6UlC pic.twitter.com/duEin02YjK
In a memo to the media, CPC campaign manager Steve Outhouse said Poilievre’s appearance on the Rogan Podcast made good on an earlier commitment to “broaden the audience he is connecting with,” including internationally.
During his tête-à-tête with the hugely influential and occasionally polarizing podcaster, Outhouse said that Poilievre, “respectfully but directly outlined the strong case for our two great countries to forge a path forward that benefits workers who count on cross-border trade for their job and to provide for their families.”
Rogan has over 20 million followers on YouTube and is approaching 15 million on Spotify, his host platform. His interview subjects run the gamut from A-list Hollywood celebrities to award-winning scientists to a spectrum of political leaders — U.S. President Donald Trump famously appeared during the 2024 election, while his opponent, Kamala Harris, declined an invitation.
Rogan has a long recorded history of slamming former prime minister Justin Trudeau, fueled largely by his distaste for the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent 2022 Freedom Convoy in Ottawa, and the tightening of gun laws.
In the past, he’s held a much kinder view of Poilievre.
“That guy makes so much more sense,” he told Canadian comedian Tom Green in a February 2024 show. “He’s so common sense just calling out all the nonsense that’s been done under this administration.”
In the same interview, Green teaches Rogan how to correctly pronounce Poilievre. The lesson appears not to have stuck, however.
After last year’s invite to the Conservative leader was declined, Rogan explained to Hanes that he would never take an aggressive stance or drop “gotcha” questions on a guest, even if they disagree, “especially this Pierre ‘Polivette’ guy.”
“How do you say it? It’s a weird way of saying it.”
Without getting into specific topics, Rogan said the conversation would have been about “real simple stuff.”
“I would just ask him questions like ‘What’s wrong with Canada. How did this happen, and why did it go this way? What can be done to reverse some of these things that have been put into place? How did you feel about this? What would you have done differently?
“I don’t know anything about Canada’s politics, right? It would have been fun,” he added.
In another episode last fall, Rogan mused that Trump’s talk of making Canada the 51st state led to Poilievre going from a huge lead in the polls to losing to Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals on election day.
Joe Rogan jokes that Trump trying to turn Canada into the 51st state probably cost Pierre Poilievre the election.
— Joe Rogan Podcast News (@joeroganhq) October 25, 2025
pic.twitter.com/f4HEBL54py
Due to his aforementioned grievances with the previous Liberal administration, Rogan has repeatedly said he no longer comes to Canada, not even for UFC events where he would normally be a ringside broadcaster.
“I don’t go to Canada anymore. I don’t. Nor should you,” he advised guest Brendan Schaub last March when asked about UFC 315 in Montreal. He’d also skipped an earlier event in Toronto and the summer prior said he wouldn’t come back due to former prime minister Justin Trudeau and “ridiculous free speech laws.”
He may not want to visit, but he’s also said the current U.S.-Canada trade friction are unnecessary and has called Trump’s tariffs “stupid.”
“We gotta become friends with Canada again,” he told American comedian Michael Kosta last March. “This is so ridiculous. I can’t believe there’s anti-American, anti-Canadian sentiment going on. It’s the dumbest.”
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