diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2e7aa80f484..c9d6ea9ff43 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ## [Unreleased]
 
 ### Fixed
+- exports propagated to parent by "E2E connections" were not properly deferred and were always allocated
 
 ### Added
 
diff --git a/generic/MAPL_Generic.F90 b/generic/MAPL_Generic.F90
index fe074f32874..2d672b2b15c 100644
--- a/generic/MAPL_Generic.F90
+++ b/generic/MAPL_Generic.F90
@@ -6368,6 +6368,7 @@ subroutine MAPL_StateCreateFromSpecNew(STATE,SPEC,DEFER,range, RC)
 
     integer :: range_(2)
     type(MAPL_VarSpec), pointer :: varspec
+    character(len=ESMF_MAXSTR) :: fname
 
     if (present(range)) then
        range_ = range
@@ -6496,9 +6497,15 @@ subroutine MAPL_StateCreateFromSpecNew(STATE,SPEC,DEFER,range, RC)
       isCreated = ESMF_FieldIsCreated(SPEC_FIELD, rc=status)
       _VERIFY(STATUS)
       if (isCreated) then
-         call MAPL_AllocateCoupling( SPEC_FIELD, RC=STATUS ) ! if 'DEFER' this allocates the data
-         _VERIFY(STATUS)
-
+         call ESMF_FieldGet(SPEC_FIELD, name=fname, __RC__)
+         if (.not. deferAlloc .or. short_name/=fname) then
+            call MAPL_AllocateCoupling( SPEC_FIELD, RC=STATUS ) ! if 'DEFER' this allocates the data
+            _VERIFY(STATUS)
+         else
+            field = spec_field
+            goto 20
+         end if
+         
 
 !ALT we are creating new field so that we can optionally change the name of the field;
 !    the important thing is that the data (ESMF_Array) is the SAME as the one in SPEC_Field
@@ -6611,6 +6618,7 @@ subroutine MAPL_StateCreateFromSpecNew(STATE,SPEC,DEFER,range, RC)
                _VERIFY(STATUS)
             end if
          end if
+20       continue
       else
 
 ! Create the appropriate ESMF FIELD