diff --git a/Lib/pdb.py b/Lib/pdb.py
index cf2edbf8985..4cba8a0c748 100755
--- a/Lib/pdb.py
+++ b/Lib/pdb.py
@@ -1669,6 +1669,9 @@ def main():
             # In most cases SystemExit does not warrant a post-mortem session.
             print("The program exited via sys.exit(). Exit status:", end=' ')
             print(sys.exc_info()[1])
+        except SyntaxError:
+            traceback.print_exc()
+            sys.exit(1)
         except:
             traceback.print_exc()
             print("Uncaught exception. Entering post mortem debugging")
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_pdb.py b/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
index ec8346c5eeb..35044ad2a13 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_pdb.py
@@ -1043,6 +1043,18 @@ class PdbTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertNotIn('Error', stdout.decode(),
                          "Got an error running test script under PDB")
 
+    def test_issue16180(self):
+        # A syntax error in the debuggee.
+        script = "def f: pass\n"
+        commands = ''
+        expected = "SyntaxError:"
+        stdout, stderr = self.run_pdb(script, commands)
+        self.assertIn(expected, stdout,
+            '\n\nExpected:\n{}\nGot:\n{}\n'
+            'Fail to handle a syntax error in the debuggee.'
+            .format(expected, stdout))
+
+
     def tearDown(self):
         support.unlink(support.TESTFN)
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 4c293cc7b26..e88106ae30f 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -101,6 +101,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #16180: Exit pdb if file has syntax error, instead of trapping user
+  in an infinite loop.  Patch by Xavier de Gaye.
+
 - Issue #24891: Fix a race condition at Python startup if the file descriptor
   of stdin (0), stdout (1) or stderr (2) is closed while Python is creating
   sys.stdin, sys.stdout and sys.stderr objects. These attributes are now set