diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientHandler.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientHandler.java
index a6929e6f81..0fd61a4ff5 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientHandler.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientHandler.java
@@ -767,7 +767,7 @@ class NettyClientHandler extends AbstractNettyHandler {
 
   private void forcefulClose(final ChannelHandlerContext ctx, final ForcefulCloseCommand msg,
       ChannelPromise promise) throws Exception {
-    // close() already called by NettyClientTransport, so just need to clean up streams
+    ctx.close();
     connection().forEachActiveStream(new Http2StreamVisitor() {
       @Override
       public boolean visit(Http2Stream stream) throws Http2Exception {
diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientTransport.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientTransport.java
index 7c009340a4..5802bfe616 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientTransport.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientTransport.java
@@ -346,9 +346,6 @@ class NettyClientTransport implements ConnectionClientTransport {
         @Override
         public void run() {
           lifecycleManager.notifyShutdown(reason);
-          // Call close() directly since negotiation may not have completed, such that a write would
-          // be queued.
-          channel.close();
           channel.write(new ForcefulCloseCommand(reason));
         }
       }, true);
diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler.java
index 60c48c733d..9521fc9388 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler.java
@@ -124,6 +124,11 @@ final class WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler extends ChannelDuplexHandler {
       promise.setFailure(failCause);
       ReferenceCountUtil.release(msg);
     } else {
+      if (msg instanceof GracefulCloseCommand || msg instanceof ForcefulCloseCommand) {
+        // No point in continuing negotiation
+        ctx.close();
+        // Still enqueue the command in case the HTTP/2 handler is already on the pipeline
+      }
       bufferedWrites.add(new ChannelWrite(msg, promise));
     }
   }