diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/catalog/CatalogTestCases.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/catalog/CatalogTestCases.scala
index fbcac09ce223f3fb748a88bba95d497383e7be0e..0009438b315804e71687480718fa8caab68cc147 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/catalog/CatalogTestCases.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/catalog/CatalogTestCases.scala
@@ -149,6 +149,15 @@ abstract class CatalogTestCases extends SparkFunSuite with BeforeAndAfterEach {
   // Tables
   // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+  test("the table type of an external table should be EXTERNAL_TABLE") {
+    val catalog = newBasicCatalog()
+    val table =
+      newTable("external_table1", "db2").copy(tableType = CatalogTableType.EXTERNAL_TABLE)
+    catalog.createTable("db2", table, ignoreIfExists = false)
+    val actual = catalog.getTable("db2", "external_table1")
+    assert(actual.tableType === CatalogTableType.EXTERNAL_TABLE)
+  }
+
   test("drop table") {
     val catalog = newBasicCatalog()
     assert(catalog.listTables("db2").toSet == Set("tbl1", "tbl2"))
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
index d0eb9ddf50ae8f5738dc3e5f6953683a5258c0e3..a037671ef04f5717d3827335235ef6489f1b259b 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/client/HiveClientImpl.scala
@@ -659,9 +659,18 @@ private[hive] class HiveClientImpl(
 
   private def toHiveTable(table: CatalogTable): HiveTable = {
     val hiveTable = new HiveTable(table.database, table.identifier.table)
+    // For EXTERNAL_TABLE/MANAGED_TABLE, we also need to set EXTERNAL field in
+    // the table properties accodringly. Otherwise, if EXTERNAL_TABLE is the table type
+    // but EXTERNAL field is not set, Hive metastore will change the type to
+    // MANAGED_TABLE (see
+    // metastore/src/java/org/apache/hadoop/hive/metastore/ObjectStore.java#L1095-L1105)
     hiveTable.setTableType(table.tableType match {
-      case CatalogTableType.EXTERNAL_TABLE => HiveTableType.EXTERNAL_TABLE
-      case CatalogTableType.MANAGED_TABLE => HiveTableType.MANAGED_TABLE
+      case CatalogTableType.EXTERNAL_TABLE =>
+        hiveTable.setProperty("EXTERNAL", "TRUE")
+        HiveTableType.EXTERNAL_TABLE
+      case CatalogTableType.MANAGED_TABLE =>
+        hiveTable.setProperty("EXTERNAL", "FALSE")
+        HiveTableType.MANAGED_TABLE
       case CatalogTableType.INDEX_TABLE => HiveTableType.INDEX_TABLE
       case CatalogTableType.VIRTUAL_VIEW => HiveTableType.VIRTUAL_VIEW
     })