diff --git a/cmd/ztest/ztest.c b/cmd/ztest/ztest.c
index 9c2cf9501..3bf840d88 100644
--- a/cmd/ztest/ztest.c
+++ b/cmd/ztest/ztest.c
@@ -2745,8 +2745,24 @@ ztest_spa_create_destroy(ztest_ds_t *zd, uint64_t id)
 	VERIFY3U(EEXIST, ==,
 	    spa_create(zo->zo_pool, nvroot, NULL, NULL, NULL));
 	nvlist_free(nvroot);
+
+	/*
+	 * We open a reference to the spa and then we try to export it
+	 * expecting one of the following errors:
+	 *
+	 * EBUSY
+	 *	Because of the reference we just opened.
+	 *
+	 * ZFS_ERR_EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS
+	 *	For the case that there is another ztest thread doing
+	 *	an export concurrently.
+	 */
 	VERIFY3U(0, ==, spa_open(zo->zo_pool, &spa, FTAG));
-	VERIFY3U(EBUSY, ==, spa_destroy(zo->zo_pool));
+	int error = spa_destroy(zo->zo_pool);
+	if (error != EBUSY && error != ZFS_ERR_EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS) {
+		fatal(0, "spa_destroy(%s) returned unexpected value %d",
+		    spa->spa_name, error);
+	}
 	spa_close(spa, FTAG);
 
 	(void) pthread_rwlock_unlock(&ztest_name_lock);
diff --git a/include/libzfs.h b/include/libzfs.h
index e2ec2d9bc..a5b2a8393 100644
--- a/include/libzfs.h
+++ b/include/libzfs.h
@@ -147,6 +147,7 @@ typedef enum zfs_error {
 	EZFS_NO_TRIM,		/* no active trim */
 	EZFS_TRIM_NOTSUP,	/* device does not support trim */
 	EZFS_NO_RESILVER_DEFER,	/* pool doesn't support resilver_defer */
+	EZFS_EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS,	/* currently exporting the pool */
 	EZFS_UNKNOWN
 } zfs_error_t;
 
diff --git a/include/sys/fs/zfs.h b/include/sys/fs/zfs.h
index 3bcefdbfd..c167a594a 100644
--- a/include/sys/fs/zfs.h
+++ b/include/sys/fs/zfs.h
@@ -1318,6 +1318,7 @@ typedef enum {
 	ZFS_ERR_FROM_IVSET_GUID_MISSING,
 	ZFS_ERR_FROM_IVSET_GUID_MISMATCH,
 	ZFS_ERR_SPILL_BLOCK_FLAG_MISSING,
+	ZFS_ERR_EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS,
 } zfs_errno_t;
 
 /*
diff --git a/include/sys/spa_impl.h b/include/sys/spa_impl.h
index 66032d9aa..0de8613d3 100644
--- a/include/sys/spa_impl.h
+++ b/include/sys/spa_impl.h
@@ -219,6 +219,7 @@ struct spa {
 	spa_taskqs_t	spa_zio_taskq[ZIO_TYPES][ZIO_TASKQ_TYPES];
 	dsl_pool_t	*spa_dsl_pool;
 	boolean_t	spa_is_initializing;	/* true while opening pool */
+	boolean_t	spa_is_exporting;	/* true while exporting pool */
 	metaslab_class_t *spa_normal_class;	/* normal data class */
 	metaslab_class_t *spa_log_class;	/* intent log data class */
 	metaslab_class_t *spa_special_class;	/* special allocation class */
diff --git a/lib/libzfs/libzfs_util.c b/lib/libzfs/libzfs_util.c
index 19bb57ad4..dc2d68ebe 100644
--- a/lib/libzfs/libzfs_util.c
+++ b/lib/libzfs/libzfs_util.c
@@ -303,6 +303,8 @@ libzfs_error_description(libzfs_handle_t *hdl)
 	case EZFS_NO_RESILVER_DEFER:
 		return (dgettext(TEXT_DOMAIN, "this action requires the "
 		    "resilver_defer feature"));
+	case EZFS_EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS:
+		return (dgettext(TEXT_DOMAIN, "pool export in progress"));
 	case EZFS_UNKNOWN:
 		return (dgettext(TEXT_DOMAIN, "unknown error"));
 	default:
@@ -598,6 +600,9 @@ zpool_standard_error_fmt(libzfs_handle_t *hdl, int error, const char *fmt, ...)
 	case ZFS_ERR_VDEV_TOO_BIG:
 		zfs_verror(hdl, EZFS_VDEV_TOO_BIG, fmt, ap);
 		break;
+	case ZFS_ERR_EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS:
+		zfs_verror(hdl, EZFS_EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS, fmt, ap);
+		break;
 	case ZFS_ERR_IOC_CMD_UNAVAIL:
 		zfs_error_aux(hdl, dgettext(TEXT_DOMAIN, "the loaded zfs "
 		    "module does not support this operation. A reboot may "
diff --git a/module/zfs/spa.c b/module/zfs/spa.c
index eb3ff91a0..ce622cee8 100644
--- a/module/zfs/spa.c
+++ b/module/zfs/spa.c
@@ -5722,6 +5722,13 @@ spa_export_common(char *pool, int new_state, nvlist_t **oldconfig,
 		return (SET_ERROR(ENOENT));
 	}
 
+	if (spa->spa_is_exporting) {
+		/* the pool is being exported by another thread */
+		mutex_exit(&spa_namespace_lock);
+		return (SET_ERROR(ZFS_ERR_EXPORT_IN_PROGRESS));
+	}
+	spa->spa_is_exporting = B_TRUE;
+
 	/*
 	 * Put a hold on the pool, drop the namespace lock, stop async tasks,
 	 * reacquire the namespace lock, and see if we can export.
@@ -5757,6 +5764,7 @@ spa_export_common(char *pool, int new_state, nvlist_t **oldconfig,
 	    (spa->spa_inject_ref != 0 &&
 	    new_state != POOL_STATE_UNINITIALIZED)) {
 		spa_async_resume(spa);
+		spa->spa_is_exporting = B_FALSE;
 		mutex_exit(&spa_namespace_lock);
 		return (SET_ERROR(EBUSY));
 	}
@@ -5771,6 +5779,7 @@ spa_export_common(char *pool, int new_state, nvlist_t **oldconfig,
 		if (!force && new_state == POOL_STATE_EXPORTED &&
 		    spa_has_active_shared_spare(spa)) {
 			spa_async_resume(spa);
+			spa->spa_is_exporting = B_FALSE;
 			mutex_exit(&spa_namespace_lock);
 			return (SET_ERROR(EXDEV));
 		}
@@ -5822,9 +5831,16 @@ export_spa:
 		if (!hardforce)
 			spa_write_cachefile(spa, B_TRUE, B_TRUE);
 		spa_remove(spa);
+	} else {
+		/*
+		 * If spa_remove() is not called for this spa_t and
+		 * there is any possibility that it can be reused,
+		 * we make sure to reset the exporting flag.
+		 */
+		spa->spa_is_exporting = B_FALSE;
 	}
-	mutex_exit(&spa_namespace_lock);
 
+	mutex_exit(&spa_namespace_lock);
 	return (0);
 }