diff --git a/composition-js/src/__tests__/compose.test.ts b/composition-js/src/__tests__/compose.test.ts
index e0a538fab..879161d08 100644
--- a/composition-js/src/__tests__/compose.test.ts
+++ b/composition-js/src/__tests__/compose.test.ts
@@ -4655,6 +4655,43 @@ describe('composition', () => {
     const authenticatedDirectiveExists = schema.directives().find(d => d.name === 'authenticated');
     expect(authenticatedDirectiveExists).toBeUndefined();
   });
+
+  describe('uses minimum required spec versions', () => {
+    function subgraphWithFederationSpecVersion(version: string) {
+      const schemaString = `
+        extend schema @link(url: "https://specs.apollo.dev/federation/v${version}", import: ["@key"])
+
+        type Query {
+          a: A
+        }
+
+        type A @key(fields: "id") {
+          id: ID!
+        }
+        `;
+      return {
+        typeDefs: gql`${schemaString}`,
+        name: 'subgraphA',
+      };
+    }
+
+    it.each([
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.0", expectedJoinVersion: "0.3" },
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.1", expectedJoinVersion: "0.3" },
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.2", expectedJoinVersion: "0.3" },
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.3", expectedJoinVersion: "0.3" },
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.4", expectedJoinVersion: "0.3" },
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.5", expectedJoinVersion: "0.3" },
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.6", expectedJoinVersion: "0.3" },
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.7", expectedJoinVersion: "0.4" },
+      { subgraphFedVersion: "2.8", expectedJoinVersion: "0.5" },
+    ])("federation -> join versions", ({ subgraphFedVersion, expectedJoinVersion }) => {
+      const subgraph = subgraphWithFederationSpecVersion(subgraphFedVersion);
+      const result = composeServices([subgraph]);
+      assertCompositionSuccess(result);
+      expect(result.supergraphSdl).toContain(`join/v${expectedJoinVersion}`);
+    });
+  });
 });
 
 describe('@source* directives', () => {
diff --git a/internals-js/src/specs/joinSpec.ts b/internals-js/src/specs/joinSpec.ts
index bd45fa212..cb4640000 100644
--- a/internals-js/src/specs/joinSpec.ts
+++ b/internals-js/src/specs/joinSpec.ts
@@ -287,6 +287,10 @@ export class JoinSpecDefinition extends FeatureDefinition {
 export const JOIN_VERSIONS = new FeatureDefinitions<JoinSpecDefinition>(joinIdentity)
   .add(new JoinSpecDefinition(new FeatureVersion(0, 1)))
   .add(new JoinSpecDefinition(new FeatureVersion(0, 2)))
+  // Though join v0.2 supports federation v2.0 as mentioned above, we should
+  // still prefer join v0.3 as a minimum for all of federation v2.0-2.6 since
+  // v0.3 offers improvements around union members and enum values that we're
+  // interested in.
   .add(new JoinSpecDefinition(new FeatureVersion(0, 3), new FeatureVersion(2, 0)))
   .add(new JoinSpecDefinition(new FeatureVersion(0, 4), new FeatureVersion(2, 7)))
   .add(new JoinSpecDefinition(new FeatureVersion(0, 5), new FeatureVersion(2, 8)));