diff --git a/gclient_scm.py b/gclient_scm.py
index 37a8bee50..9facab6d9 100644
--- a/gclient_scm.py
+++ b/gclient_scm.py
@@ -202,7 +202,6 @@ class GitWrapper(SCMWrapper):
     cmd = ['git', 'submodule', '--quiet', 'foreach', ' '.join(submod_cmd)]
     cmd2 = ['git', 'config', 'diff.ignoreSubmodules', 'all']
     cmd3 = ['git', 'config', 'branch.autosetupmerge']
-    cmd4 = ['git', 'config', 'fetch.recurseSubmodules', 'true']
     kwargs = {'cwd': self.checkout_path,
               'print_stdout': False,
               'filter_fn': lambda x: None}
@@ -218,8 +217,6 @@ class GitWrapper(SCMWrapper):
     except subprocess2.CalledProcessError:
       gclient_utils.CheckCallAndFilter(cmd3 + ['always'], **kwargs)
 
-    gclient_utils.CheckCallAndFilter(cmd4, **kwargs)
-
   def update(self, options, args, file_list):
     """Runs git to update or transparently checkout the working copy.
 
@@ -659,7 +656,6 @@ class GitWrapper(SCMWrapper):
     if options.verbose:
       clone_cmd.append('--verbose')
     clone_cmd.extend([url, self.checkout_path])
-    clone_cmd.append('--recursive')
 
     # If the parent directory does not exist, Git clone on Windows will not
     # create it, so we need to do it manually.