diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
index 61235a7019070..15565e19b3d24 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
@@ -126,13 +126,22 @@ private[deploy] class SparkSubmitArguments(args: Seq[String], env: Map[String, S
    */
   private def mergeDefaultSparkProperties(): Unit = {
     // Use common defaults file, if not specified by user
-    propertiesFile = Option(propertiesFile).getOrElse(Utils.getDefaultPropertiesFile(env))
     // Honor --conf before the defaults file
     defaultSparkProperties.foreach { case (k, v) =>
       if (!sparkProperties.contains(k)) {
         sparkProperties(k) = v
       }
     }
+
+    // Also load properties from `spark-defaults.conf` if they do not exist in the properties file
+    Option(Utils.getDefaultPropertiesFile(env)).foreach { filename =>
+      val properties = Utils.getPropertiesFromFile(filename)
+      properties.foreach { case (k, v) =>
+        if (!sparkProperties.contains(k)) {
+          sparkProperties(k) = v
+        }
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   /**