diff --git a/cmd/controller/run.go b/cmd/controller/run.go
index 03056dcea..f1c2d36d7 100644
--- a/cmd/controller/run.go
+++ b/cmd/controller/run.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"         // Pprof related
 	_ "net/http/pprof" // Pprof related
 	"os"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
 	kcv1alpha1 "github.com/vmware-tanzu/carvel-kapp-controller/pkg/apis/kappctrl/v1alpha1"
@@ -27,9 +28,10 @@ const (
 )
 
 type Options struct {
-	Concurrency int
-	Namespace   string
-	EnablePprof bool
+	Concurrency       int
+	Namespace         string
+	EnablePprof       bool
+	APIRequestTimeout time.Duration
 }
 
 // Based on https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/controller-runtime/blob/8f633b179e1c704a6e40440b528252f147a3362a/examples/builtins/main.go
@@ -39,6 +41,10 @@ func Run(opts Options, runLog logr.Logger) {
 
 	restConfig := config.GetConfigOrDie()
 
+	if opts.APIRequestTimeout != 0 {
+		restConfig.Timeout = opts.APIRequestTimeout
+	}
+
 	mgr, err := manager.New(restConfig, manager.Options{Namespace: opts.Namespace})
 	if err != nil {
 		runLog.Error(err, "unable to set up overall controller manager")
diff --git a/cmd/main.go b/cmd/main.go
index 1c0ad25c5..cea6ae02d 100644
--- a/cmd/main.go
+++ b/cmd/main.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"flag"
 	"os"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/vmware-tanzu/carvel-kapp-controller/cmd/controller"
 	"github.com/vmware-tanzu/carvel-kapp-controller/cmd/controllerinit"
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ func main() {
 	flag.IntVar(&ctrlOpts.Concurrency, "concurrency", 10, "Max concurrent reconciles")
 	flag.StringVar(&ctrlOpts.Namespace, "namespace", "", "Namespace to watch")
 	flag.BoolVar(&ctrlOpts.EnablePprof, "dangerous-enable-pprof", false, "If set to true, enable pprof on "+controller.PprofListenAddr)
+	flag.DurationVar(&ctrlOpts.APIRequestTimeout, "api-request-timeout", time.Duration(0), "HTTP timeout for Kubernetes API requests")
 	flag.BoolVar(&runController, controllerinit.InternalControllerFlag, false, "[Internal] run the controller code")
 	flag.Parse()