diff --git a/gitk-git/gitk b/gitk-git/gitk
index 6f24f53d217884607f1bf04c4b2f715cf6ad78ac..d93bd990a9d7fc9ad7c926e25f5d58f4e7514260 100755
--- a/gitk-git/gitk
+++ b/gitk-git/gitk
@@ -11533,6 +11533,11 @@ if {[catch {package require Tk 8.4} err]} {
     exit 1
 }
 
+# Unset GIT_TRACE var if set
+if { [info exists ::env(GIT_TRACE)] } {
+    unset ::env(GIT_TRACE)
+}
+
 # defaults...
 set wrcomcmd "git diff-tree --stdin -p --pretty"