diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/transaction/transaction_management.c b/src/backend/distributed/transaction/transaction_management.c
index 7a211b384..2012ca5dd 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/transaction/transaction_management.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/transaction/transaction_management.c
@@ -135,7 +135,16 @@ UseCoordinatedTransaction(void)
 	}
 
 	CurrentCoordinatedTransactionState = COORD_TRANS_STARTED;
-	AssignDistributedTransactionId();
+
+	/*
+	 * If assign_distributed_transaction_id() has been called, we should reuse
+	 * that identifier so distributed deadlock detection works properly.
+	 */
+	DistributedTransactionId *transactionId = GetCurrentDistributedTransactionId();
+	if (transactionId->transactionNumber == 0)
+	{
+		AssignDistributedTransactionId();
+	}
 }
 
 
diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/utils/reference_table_utils.c b/src/backend/distributed/utils/reference_table_utils.c
index 558a67656..fe2711554 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/utils/reference_table_utils.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/utils/reference_table_utils.c
@@ -210,11 +210,15 @@ EnsureReferenceTablesExistOnAllNodes(void)
 
 		if (PQstatus(connection->pgConn) == CONNECTION_OK)
 		{
+			UseCoordinatedTransaction();
+
+			RemoteTransactionBegin(connection);
 			StringInfo placementCopyCommand =
 				CopyShardPlacementToWorkerNodeQuery(sourceShardPlacement,
 													newWorkerNode,
 													TRANSFER_MODE_AUTOMATIC);
 			ExecuteCriticalRemoteCommand(connection, placementCopyCommand->data);
+			RemoteTransactionCommit(connection);
 		}
 		else
 		{
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/isolation_dump_global_wait_edges.out b/src/test/regress/expected/isolation_dump_global_wait_edges.out
index 9384bd287..71a7f1a7a 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/isolation_dump_global_wait_edges.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/isolation_dump_global_wait_edges.out
@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ step detector-dump-wait-edges:
 
 waiting_transaction_numblocking_transaction_numblocking_transaction_waiting
 
-392            391            f
+390            389            f
 transactionnumberwaitingtransactionnumbers
 
-391
-392            391
+389
+390            389
 step s1-abort:
     ABORT;
 
@@ -75,14 +75,14 @@ step detector-dump-wait-edges:
 
 waiting_transaction_numblocking_transaction_numblocking_transaction_waiting
 
-396            395            f
-397            395            f
-397            396            t
+394            393            f
+395            393            f
+395            394            t
 transactionnumberwaitingtransactionnumbers
 
-395
-396            395
-397            395,396
+393
+394            393
+395            393,394
 step s1-abort:
     ABORT;
 
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/multi_replicate_reference_table.out b/src/test/regress/expected/multi_replicate_reference_table.out
index bcbc634d2..140c2fbbb 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/multi_replicate_reference_table.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/multi_replicate_reference_table.out
@@ -1014,6 +1014,38 @@ SELECT stop_metadata_sync_to_node('localhost', :worker_1_port);
 
 (1 row)
 
+--
+-- The following case used to get stuck on create_distributed_table() instead
+-- of detecting the distributed deadlock.
+--
+SET citus.replicate_reference_tables_on_activate TO off;
+SET citus.shard_replication_factor TO 1;
+select master_remove_node('localhost', :worker_2_port);
+ master_remove_node
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(1 row)
+
+CREATE TABLE ref (a int primary key, b int);
+SELECT create_reference_table('ref');
+ create_reference_table
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+(1 row)
+
+CREATE TABLE test (x int, y int references ref(a));
+select 1 FROM master_add_node('localhost', :worker_2_port);
+ ?column?
+---------------------------------------------------------------------
+        1
+(1 row)
+
+BEGIN;
+DROP TABLE test;
+CREATE TABLE test (x int, y int references ref(a));
+SELECT create_distributed_table('test','x');
+ERROR:  canceling the transaction since it was involved in a distributed deadlock
+END;
 -- test adding an invalid node while we have reference tables to replicate
 -- set client message level to ERROR and verbosity to terse to supporess
 -- OS-dependent host name resolution warnings
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/multi_replicate_reference_table.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/multi_replicate_reference_table.sql
index 4535aebfc..4a8b76d4d 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/multi_replicate_reference_table.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/multi_replicate_reference_table.sql
@@ -634,6 +634,25 @@ SET search_path TO replicate_reference_table;
 
 SELECT stop_metadata_sync_to_node('localhost', :worker_1_port);
 
+--
+-- The following case used to get stuck on create_distributed_table() instead
+-- of detecting the distributed deadlock.
+--
+SET citus.replicate_reference_tables_on_activate TO off;
+SET citus.shard_replication_factor TO 1;
+
+select master_remove_node('localhost', :worker_2_port);
+
+CREATE TABLE ref (a int primary key, b int);
+SELECT create_reference_table('ref');
+CREATE TABLE test (x int, y int references ref(a));
+select 1 FROM master_add_node('localhost', :worker_2_port);
+BEGIN;
+DROP TABLE test;
+CREATE TABLE test (x int, y int references ref(a));
+SELECT create_distributed_table('test','x');
+END;
+
 -- test adding an invalid node while we have reference tables to replicate
 -- set client message level to ERROR and verbosity to terse to supporess
 -- OS-dependent host name resolution warnings