diff --git a/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/BUILD.bazel b/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/BUILD.bazel
index 8f5bcda80e..714d91f4b9 100644
--- a/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/BUILD.bazel
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ go_library(
         "//vendor/k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/dnsprovider:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/dnsprovider/providers/aws/route53:go_default_library",
+        "//vendor/k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws:go_default_library",
     ],
 )
 
diff --git a/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/aws_cloud.go b/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/aws_cloud.go
index 1832b93bfd..11bace6607 100644
--- a/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/aws_cloud.go
+++ b/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/aws_cloud.go
@@ -19,10 +19,12 @@ package awsup
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/awserr"
+	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/request"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/session"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/autoscaling"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/autoscaling/autoscalingiface"
@@ -43,6 +45,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kops/upup/pkg/fi"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/dnsprovider"
 	dnsproviderroute53 "k8s.io/kubernetes/federation/pkg/dnsprovider/providers/aws/route53"
+	k8s_aws "k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/cloudprovider/providers/aws"
 )
 
 // By default, aws-sdk-go only retries 3 times, which doesn't give
@@ -144,6 +147,13 @@ type awsCloudImplementation struct {
 	region string
 
 	tags map[string]string
+
+	regionDelayers *RegionDelayers
+}
+
+type RegionDelayers struct {
+	mutex      sync.Mutex
+	delayerMap map[string]*k8s_aws.CrossRequestRetryDelay
 }
 
 var _ fi.Cloud = &awsCloudImplementation{}
@@ -161,16 +171,19 @@ var awsCloudInstances map[string]AWSCloud = make(map[string]AWSCloud)
 func NewAWSCloud(region string, tags map[string]string) (AWSCloud, error) {
 	raw := awsCloudInstances[region]
 	if raw == nil {
-		c := &awsCloudImplementation{region: region}
+		c := &awsCloudImplementation{
+			region: region,
+			regionDelayers: &RegionDelayers{
+				delayerMap: make(map[string]*k8s_aws.CrossRequestRetryDelay),
+			},
+		}
 
 		config := aws.NewConfig().WithRegion(region)
 
-		// Add some logging of retries
-		config.Retryer = newLoggingRetryer(ClientMaxRetries)
-
 		// This avoids a confusing error message when we fail to get credentials
 		// e.g. https://github.com/kubernetes/kops/issues/605
 		config = config.WithCredentialsChainVerboseErrors(true)
+		config = request.WithRetryer(config, newLoggingRetryer(ClientMaxRetries))
 
 		requestLogger := newRequestLogger(2)
 
@@ -180,6 +193,7 @@ func NewAWSCloud(region string, tags map[string]string) (AWSCloud, error) {
 		}
 		c.cf = cloudformation.New(sess, config)
 		c.cf.Handlers.Send.PushFront(requestLogger)
+		c.addHandlers(region, &c.cf.Handlers)
 
 		sess, err = session.NewSession(config)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -187,6 +201,7 @@ func NewAWSCloud(region string, tags map[string]string) (AWSCloud, error) {
 		}
 		c.ec2 = ec2.New(sess, config)
 		c.ec2.Handlers.Send.PushFront(requestLogger)
+		c.addHandlers(region, &c.ec2.Handlers)
 
 		sess, err = session.NewSession(config)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -194,6 +209,7 @@ func NewAWSCloud(region string, tags map[string]string) (AWSCloud, error) {
 		}
 		c.iam = iam.New(sess, config)
 		c.iam.Handlers.Send.PushFront(requestLogger)
+		c.addHandlers(region, &c.iam.Handlers)
 
 		sess, err = session.NewSession(config)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -201,6 +217,7 @@ func NewAWSCloud(region string, tags map[string]string) (AWSCloud, error) {
 		}
 		c.elb = elb.New(sess, config)
 		c.elb.Handlers.Send.PushFront(requestLogger)
+		c.addHandlers(region, &c.elb.Handlers)
 
 		sess, err = session.NewSession(config)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -208,6 +225,7 @@ func NewAWSCloud(region string, tags map[string]string) (AWSCloud, error) {
 		}
 		c.autoscaling = autoscaling.New(sess, config)
 		c.autoscaling.Handlers.Send.PushFront(requestLogger)
+		c.addHandlers(region, &c.autoscaling.Handlers)
 
 		sess, err = session.NewSession(config)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -215,6 +233,7 @@ func NewAWSCloud(region string, tags map[string]string) (AWSCloud, error) {
 		}
 		c.route53 = route53.New(sess, config)
 		c.route53.Handlers.Send.PushFront(requestLogger)
+		c.addHandlers(region, &c.route53.Handlers)
 
 		awsCloudInstances[region] = c
 		raw = c
@@ -225,6 +244,43 @@ func NewAWSCloud(region string, tags map[string]string) (AWSCloud, error) {
 	return i, nil
 }
 
+func (c *awsCloudImplementation) addHandlers(regionName string, h *request.Handlers) {
+
+	delayer := c.getCrossRequestRetryDelay(regionName)
+	if delayer != nil {
+		h.Sign.PushFrontNamed(request.NamedHandler{
+			Name: "kops/delay-presign",
+			Fn:   delayer.BeforeSign,
+		})
+
+		h.AfterRetry.PushFrontNamed(request.NamedHandler{
+			Name: "kops/delay-afterretry",
+			Fn:   delayer.AfterRetry,
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+// Get a CrossRequestRetryDelay, scoped to the region, not to the request.
+// This means that when we hit a limit on a call, we will delay _all_ calls to the API.
+// We do this to protect the AWS account from becoming overloaded and effectively locked.
+// We also log when we hit request limits.
+// Note that this delays the current goroutine; this is bad behaviour and will
+// likely cause kops to become slow or unresponsive for cloud operations.
+// However, this throttle is intended only as a last resort.  When we observe
+// this throttling, we need to address the root cause (e.g. add a delay to a
+// controller retry loop)
+func (c *awsCloudImplementation) getCrossRequestRetryDelay(regionName string) *k8s_aws.CrossRequestRetryDelay {
+	c.regionDelayers.mutex.Lock()
+	defer c.regionDelayers.mutex.Unlock()
+
+	delayer, found := c.regionDelayers.delayerMap[regionName]
+	if !found {
+		delayer = k8s_aws.NewCrossRequestRetryDelay()
+		c.regionDelayers.delayerMap[regionName] = delayer
+	}
+	return delayer
+}
+
 func NewEC2Filter(name string, values ...string) *ec2.Filter {
 	awsValues := []*string{}
 	for _, value := range values {