diff --git a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
index e967ff1874..f903683189 100644
--- a/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
+++ b/Documentation/fetch-options.txt
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@ configuration variables documented in linkgit:git-config[1], and the
 	ancestors of the provided `--negotiation-tip=*` arguments,
 	which we have in common with the server.
 +
+This is incompatible with `--recurse-submodules=[yes|on-demand]`.
 Internally this is used to implement the `push.negotiate` option, see
 linkgit:git-config[1].
 
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index 5f06b21f8e..5b3b18a72f 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ static struct transport *gtransport;
 static struct transport *gsecondary;
 static const char *submodule_prefix = "";
 static int recurse_submodules = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT;
+static int recurse_submodules_cli = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT;
 static int recurse_submodules_default = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON_DEMAND;
 static int shown_url = 0;
 static struct refspec refmap = REFSPEC_INIT_FETCH;
@@ -167,7 +168,7 @@ static struct option builtin_fetch_options[] = {
 		 N_("prune remote-tracking branches no longer on remote")),
 	OPT_BOOL('P', "prune-tags", &prune_tags,
 		 N_("prune local tags no longer on remote and clobber changed tags")),
-	OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "recurse-submodules", &recurse_submodules, N_("on-demand"),
+	OPT_CALLBACK_F(0, "recurse-submodules", &recurse_submodules_cli, N_("on-demand"),
 		    N_("control recursive fetching of submodules"),
 		    PARSE_OPT_OPTARG, option_fetch_parse_recurse_submodules),
 	OPT_BOOL(0, "dry-run", &dry_run,
@@ -2019,6 +2020,28 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix,
 			     builtin_fetch_options, builtin_fetch_usage, 0);
+
+	if (recurse_submodules_cli != RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT)
+		recurse_submodules = recurse_submodules_cli;
+
+	if (negotiate_only) {
+		switch (recurse_submodules_cli) {
+		case RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF:
+		case RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT:
+			/*
+			 * --negotiate-only should never recurse into
+			 * submodules. Skip it by setting recurse_submodules to
+			 * RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF.
+			 */
+			recurse_submodules = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF;
+			break;
+
+		default:
+			die(_("options '%s' and '%s' cannot be used together"),
+			    "--negotiate-only", "--recurse-submodules");
+		}
+	}
+
 	if (recurse_submodules != RECURSE_SUBMODULES_OFF) {
 		int *sfjc = submodule_fetch_jobs_config == -1
 			    ? &submodule_fetch_jobs_config : NULL;
@@ -2100,7 +2123,8 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 			gtransport->smart_options->acked_commits = &acked_commits;
 		} else {
 			warning(_("protocol does not support --negotiate-only, exiting"));
-			return 1;
+			result = 1;
+			goto cleanup;
 		}
 		if (server_options.nr)
 			gtransport->server_options = &server_options;
@@ -2156,7 +2180,16 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		strvec_clear(&options);
 	}
 
-	string_list_clear(&list, 0);
+	/*
+	 * Skip irrelevant tasks because we know objects were not
+	 * fetched.
+	 *
+	 * NEEDSWORK: as a future optimization, we can return early
+	 * whenever objects were not fetched e.g. if we already have all
+	 * of them.
+	 */
+	if (negotiate_only)
+		goto cleanup;
 
 	prepare_repo_settings(the_repository);
 	if (fetch_write_commit_graph > 0 ||
@@ -2175,5 +2208,7 @@ int cmd_fetch(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	if (enable_auto_gc)
 		run_auto_maintenance(verbosity < 0);
 
+ cleanup:
+	string_list_clear(&list, 0);
 	return result;
 }
diff --git a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
index 2f04cf9a1c..87881726ed 100755
--- a/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
+++ b/t/t5516-fetch-push.sh
@@ -229,6 +229,18 @@ test_expect_success 'push with negotiation proceeds anyway even if negotiation f
 	test_i18ngrep "push negotiation failed" err
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'push with negotiation does not attempt to fetch submodules' '
+	mk_empty submodule_upstream &&
+	test_commit -C submodule_upstream submodule_commit &&
+	git submodule add ./submodule_upstream submodule &&
+	mk_empty testrepo &&
+	git push testrepo $the_first_commit:refs/remotes/origin/first_commit &&
+	test_commit -C testrepo unrelated_commit &&
+	git -C testrepo config receive.hideRefs refs/remotes/origin/first_commit &&
+	git -c submodule.recurse=true -c protocol.version=2 -c push.negotiate=1 push testrepo refs/heads/main:refs/remotes/origin/main 2>err &&
+	! grep "Fetching submodule" err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'push without wildcard' '
 	mk_empty testrepo &&
 
diff --git a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
index 710f33e2aa..900254947f 100755
--- a/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
+++ b/t/t5702-protocol-v2.sh
@@ -628,6 +628,18 @@ test_expect_success 'usage: --negotiate-only without --negotiation-tip' '
 	test_cmp err.expect err.actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'usage: --negotiate-only with --recurse-submodules' '
+	cat >err.expect <<-\EOF &&
+	fatal: options '\''--negotiate-only'\'' and '\''--recurse-submodules'\'' cannot be used together
+	EOF
+
+	test_must_fail git -c protocol.version=2 -C client fetch \
+		--negotiate-only \
+		--recurse-submodules \
+		origin 2>err.actual &&
+	test_cmp err.expect err.actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'file:// --negotiate-only' '
 	SERVER="server" &&
 	URI="file://$(pwd)/server" &&