diff --git a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_emr_cluster.go b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_emr_cluster.go
index ee8868aae..f1a0d5512 100644
--- a/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_emr_cluster.go
+++ b/builtin/providers/aws/resource_aws_emr_cluster.go
@@ -831,6 +831,13 @@ func resourceAwsEMRClusterStateRefreshFunc(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interfac
 			log.Printf("[DEBUG] EMR Cluster status (%s): %s", d.Id(), *resp.Cluster.Status)
 		}
 
-		return emrc, *emrc.Status.State, nil
+		status := emrc.Status
+		if *status.State == "TERMINATING" {
+			reason := *status.StateChangeReason
+			return emrc, *status.State, fmt.Errorf("EMR Cluster is terminating. %s: %s",
+				*reason.Code, *reason.Message)
+		}
+
+		return emrc, *status.State, nil
 	}
 }