diff --git a/src/retry.ts b/src/retry.ts
index b9e94b43..5e3f608b 100644
--- a/src/retry.ts
+++ b/src/retry.ts
@@ -89,6 +89,12 @@ export async function getRetryConfig(err: GaxiosError) {
 function shouldRetryRequest(err: GaxiosError) {
   const config = getConfig(err);
 
+  // node-fetch raises an AbortError if signaled:
+  // https://github.com/bitinn/node-fetch#request-cancellation-with-abortsignal
+  if (err.name === 'AbortError') {
+    return false;
+  }
+
   // If there's no config, or retries are disabled, return.
   if (!config || config.retry === 0) {
     return false;
diff --git a/test/test.retry.ts b/test/test.retry.ts
index 93d5c3ff..6813001f 100644
--- a/test/test.retry.ts
+++ b/test/test.retry.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 import assert from 'assert';
 import nock from 'nock';
 
+import {AbortController} from 'abort-controller';
 import {GaxiosError, GaxiosOptions, request, Gaxios} from '../src';
 
 const assertRejects = require('assert-rejects');
@@ -102,6 +103,25 @@ describe('🛸 retry & exponential backoff', () => {
     scope.done();
   });
 
+  it('should not retry if user aborted request', async () => {
+    const ac = new AbortController();
+    const config: GaxiosOptions = {
+      method: 'GET',
+      url: 'https://google.com',
+      signal: ac.signal,
+      retryConfig: {retry: 10, noResponseRetries: 10},
+    };
+    const req = request(config);
+    ac.abort();
+    try {
+      await req;
+      throw Error('unreachable');
+    } catch (err) {
+      assert(err.config);
+      assert.strictEqual(err.config.retryConfig.currentRetryAttempt, 0);
+    }
+  });
+
   it('should retry at least the configured number of times', async () => {
     const body = {dippy: '🥚'};
     const scopes = [