diff --git a/packages/components/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/components/CHANGELOG.md
index 475bf272cc1bb8..53ff933848338c 100644
--- a/packages/components/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/components/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 -   `ColorPalette`: prevent overflow of custom color button background ([#66152](https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/66152)).
 -   `RadioGroup`: Fix arrow key navigation in RTL ([#66202](https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/66202)).
 -   `Tabs` and `TabPanel`: Fix arrow key navigation in RTL ([#66201](https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/66201)).
+-   `Tabs`: override tablist's tabindex only when necessary ([#66209](https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/66209)).
 
 ### Enhancements
 
diff --git a/packages/components/src/tabs/tablist.tsx b/packages/components/src/tabs/tablist.tsx
index 46cc0488bc67ae..998da5707aa071 100644
--- a/packages/components/src/tabs/tablist.tsx
+++ b/packages/components/src/tabs/tablist.tsx
@@ -111,8 +111,15 @@ export const TabList = forwardRef<
 		<StyledTabList
 			ref={ refs }
 			store={ store }
+			render={ ( props ) => (
+				<div
+					{ ...props }
+					// Fallback to -1 to prevent browsers from making the tablist
+					// tabbable when it is a scrolling container.
+					tabIndex={ props.tabIndex ?? -1 }
+				/>
+			) }
 			onBlur={ onBlur }
-			tabIndex={ -1 }
 			data-select-on-move={ selectOnMove ? 'true' : 'false' }
 			{ ...otherProps }
 			className={ clsx(