diff --git a/.changeset/orange-spiders-study.md b/.changeset/orange-spiders-study.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8b39b560793
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/orange-spiders-study.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@primer/react': minor
+---
+
+Changes focus rules of TabNav to match WAI-ARIA rules for tablist
diff --git a/src/TabNav.tsx b/src/TabNav.tsx
index fc6cd810a83..6e1ec7f964e 100644
--- a/src/TabNav.tsx
+++ b/src/TabNav.tsx
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import classnames from 'classnames'
 import {To} from 'history'
-import React from 'react'
+import React, {useRef} from 'react'
 import styled from 'styled-components'
 import {get} from './constants'
+import {FocusKeys, useFocusZone} from './hooks/useFocusZone'
 import sx, {SxProp} from './sx'
 import {ComponentProps} from './utils/types'
 import getGlobalFocusStyles from './_getGlobalFocusStyles'
@@ -28,8 +29,21 @@ const TabNavNav = styled.nav`
 export type TabNavProps = ComponentProps<typeof TabNavBase>
 
 function TabNav({children, 'aria-label': ariaLabel, ...rest}: TabNavProps) {
+  const customContainerRef = useRef<HTMLElement>(null)
+  const customStrategy = React.useCallback(() => {
+    if (customContainerRef.current) {
+      const tabs = Array.from(customContainerRef.current.querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>('a[aria-selected=true]'))
+      return tabs[0]
+    }
+  }, [customContainerRef])
+  const {containerRef: navRef} = useFocusZone({
+    containerRef: customContainerRef,
+    bindKeys: FocusKeys.ArrowHorizontal | FocusKeys.HomeAndEnd,
+    focusOutBehavior: 'wrap',
+    focusInStrategy: customStrategy
+  })
   return (
-    <TabNavBase {...rest}>
+    <TabNavBase {...rest} ref={navRef as React.RefObject<HTMLDivElement>}>
       <TabNavNav aria-label={ariaLabel}>
         <TabNavTabList role="tablist">{children}</TabNavTabList>
       </TabNavNav>
@@ -45,7 +59,8 @@ type StyledTabNavLinkProps = {
 const TabNavLink = styled.a.attrs<StyledTabNavLinkProps>(props => ({
   activeClassName: typeof props.to === 'string' ? 'selected' : '',
   className: classnames(ITEM_CLASS, props.selected && SELECTED_CLASS, props.className),
-  role: 'tab'
+  role: 'tab',
+  'aria-selected': !!props.selected
 }))<StyledTabNavLinkProps>`
   padding: 8px 12px;
   font-size: ${get('fontSizes.1')};
diff --git a/src/__tests__/TabNav.test.tsx b/src/__tests__/TabNav.test.tsx
index 3362e2d917e..09cc2ea06d0 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/TabNav.test.tsx
+++ b/src/__tests__/TabNav.test.tsx
@@ -1,12 +1,32 @@
 import React from 'react'
 import {TabNav} from '..'
-import {behavesAsComponent, checkExports} from '../utils/testing'
-import {render as HTMLRender, cleanup} from '@testing-library/react'
+import {mount, behavesAsComponent, checkExports} from '../utils/testing'
+import {fireEvent, render as HTMLRender, cleanup} from '@testing-library/react'
+import userEvent from '@testing-library/user-event'
 import {axe, toHaveNoViolations} from 'jest-axe'
 import 'babel-polyfill'
+import {Button} from '../Button'
+import Box from '../Box'
 expect.extend(toHaveNoViolations)
 
 describe('TabNav', () => {
+  const tabNavMarkup = (
+    <Box>
+      <TabNav>
+        <TabNav.Link id="first" href="#">
+          First
+        </TabNav.Link>
+        <TabNav.Link id="middle" href="#" selected>
+          Middle
+        </TabNav.Link>
+        <TabNav.Link id="last" href="#">
+          Last
+        </TabNav.Link>
+      </TabNav>
+      <Button id="my-button">My Button</Button>
+    </Box>
+  )
+
   behavesAsComponent({Component: TabNav})
 
   checkExports('TabNav', {
@@ -29,4 +49,78 @@ describe('TabNav', () => {
     expect(getByLabelText('stuff')).toBeTruthy()
     expect(getByLabelText('stuff').tagName).toEqual('NAV')
   })
+
+  it('selects a tab when tab is loaded', () => {
+    const component = mount(tabNavMarkup)
+    const tab = component.find('#middle').first()
+    expect(tab.getDOMNode().classList).toContain('selected')
+  })
+
+  it('selects next tab when pressing right arrow', () => {
+    const {getByText} = HTMLRender(tabNavMarkup)
+    const middleTab = getByText('Middle')
+    const lastTab = getByText('Last')
+
+    fireEvent.focus(middleTab)
+    fireEvent.keyDown(middleTab, {key: 'ArrowRight'})
+
+    expect(lastTab).toHaveFocus()
+  })
+
+  it('selects previous tab when pressing left arrow', () => {
+    const {getByText} = HTMLRender(tabNavMarkup)
+    const middleTab = getByText('Middle')
+    const firstTab = getByText('First')
+
+    fireEvent.focus(middleTab)
+    fireEvent.keyDown(middleTab, {key: 'ArrowLeft'})
+
+    expect(firstTab).toHaveFocus()
+  })
+
+  it('selects last tab when pressing left arrow on first tab', () => {
+    const {getByText} = HTMLRender(tabNavMarkup)
+    const firstTab = getByText('First')
+    const lastTab = getByText('Last')
+
+    fireEvent.focus(firstTab)
+    fireEvent.keyDown(firstTab, {key: 'ArrowLeft'})
+
+    expect(lastTab).toHaveFocus()
+  })
+
+  it('selects first tab when pressing right arrow on last tab', () => {
+    const {getByText} = HTMLRender(tabNavMarkup)
+    const lastTab = getByText('Last')
+    const firstTab = getByText('First')
+
+    fireEvent.focus(lastTab)
+    fireEvent.keyDown(lastTab, {key: 'ArrowRight'})
+
+    expect(firstTab).toHaveFocus()
+  })
+
+  it('moves focus away from TabNav when pressing tab', () => {
+    const {getByText, getByRole} = HTMLRender(tabNavMarkup)
+    const middleTab = getByText('Middle')
+    const button = getByRole('button')
+
+    userEvent.click(middleTab)
+    expect(middleTab).toHaveFocus()
+    userEvent.tab()
+
+    expect(button).toHaveFocus()
+  })
+
+  it('moves focus to selected tab when TabNav regains focus', () => {
+    const {getByText, getByRole} = HTMLRender(tabNavMarkup)
+    const middleTab = getByText('Middle')
+    const button = getByRole('button')
+
+    userEvent.click(button)
+    expect(button).toHaveFocus()
+    userEvent.tab({shift: true})
+
+    expect(middleTab).toHaveFocus()
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/__tests__/__snapshots__/TabNav.test.tsx.snap b/src/__tests__/__snapshots__/TabNav.test.tsx.snap
index edcc428b949..52d5e00853b 100644
--- a/src/__tests__/__snapshots__/TabNav.test.tsx.snap
+++ b/src/__tests__/__snapshots__/TabNav.test.tsx.snap
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ exports[`TabNav TabNav.Link renders consistently 1`] = `
 }
 
 <a
+  aria-selected={false}
   className="c0 TabNav-item"
   role="tab"
 />