diff --git a/news/92.bugfix b/news/92.bugfix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cc65fbaf311feb61149436e9f6fa65b700a49f65
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/92.bugfix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fix an issue of remove command that will unexpectedly uninstall packages in default section.
diff --git a/pdm/installers.py b/pdm/installers.py
index 3f8b06ee882ed719b2f9598b69483562cf741513..857f345e326449f845d7b68377ffd58d00802f38 100644
--- a/pdm/installers.py
+++ b/pdm/installers.py
@@ -392,6 +392,7 @@ class Synchronizer:
         self.candidates = candidates
         self.environment = environment
         self.parallel = environment.project.config["parallel_install"]
+        self.all_candidates = environment.project.get_locked_candidates("__all__")
         self.working_set = environment.get_working_set()
 
     @contextlib.contextmanager
@@ -425,15 +426,16 @@ class Synchronizer:
         candidates = self.candidates.copy()
         environment = self.environment.marker_environment
         for key, dist in working_set.items():
-            if key not in candidates:
-                to_remove.append(key)
-            else:
+            if key in candidates:
                 can = candidates.pop(key)
                 if can.marker and not can.marker.evaluate(environment):
                     to_remove.append(key)
                 elif not _is_dist_editable(dist) and dist.version != can.version:
                     # XXX: An editable distribution is always considered as consistent.
                     to_update.append(key)
+            elif key not in self.all_candidates:
+                # Remove package only if it is not required by any section
+                to_remove.append(key)
         to_add = list(
             {
                 strip_extras(name)[0]
diff --git a/tests/cli/test_actions.py b/tests/cli/test_actions.py
index b38a9e3129ed19bdf972e33ba1fce22ec1245080..2dbe2f87635236aaa79d0221415e8d52ce74263e 100644
--- a/tests/cli/test_actions.py
+++ b/tests/cli/test_actions.py
@@ -277,6 +277,15 @@ def test_remove_package_not_exist(project, repository, working_set):
         actions.do_remove(project, sync=False, packages=["django"])
 
 
+def test_remove_package_exist_in_multi_section(project, repository, working_set):
+    actions.do_add(project, packages=["requests"])
+    actions.do_add(project, dev=True, packages=["urllib3"])
+    actions.do_remove(project, dev=True, packages=["urllib3"])
+    assert "urllib3" not in project.tool_settings["dev-dependencies"]
+    assert "urllib3" in working_set
+    assert "requests" in working_set
+
+
 def test_add_remove_no_package(project, repository):
     with pytest.raises(PdmUsageError):
         actions.do_add(project, packages=())