diff --git a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/tree/XmlImportUtilities.java b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/tree/XmlImportUtilities.java
index 76d32e52f..0d3c3b7c8 100644
--- a/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/tree/XmlImportUtilities.java
+++ b/main/src/com/google/refine/importers/tree/XmlImportUtilities.java
@@ -506,6 +506,9 @@ public class XmlImportUtilities extends TreeImportUtilities {
                 String colName = parser.getFieldName();
                 if (value instanceof String) {
                     String text = (String) value;
+                    if(parameter.trimStrings) {
+                        text = text.trim();
+                    }
                     addCell(project, thisColumnGroup, record, colName, text, 
                             parameter.storeEmptyStrings, parameter.guessDataType);
                 } else {
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/importers/JsonImporterTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/importers/JsonImporterTests.java
index 6c1c3004f..0a60e9bb8 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/importers/JsonImporterTests.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/importers/JsonImporterTests.java
@@ -106,6 +106,48 @@ public class JsonImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
         Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(1).value, "Author 1, The");
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void trimLeadingTrailingWhitespaceOnTrimStrings(){
+        String ScraperwikiOutput = 
+            "[\n" +
+            "{\n" +
+            "        \"school\": \"  University of Cambridge  \",\n" +
+            "        \"name\": \"          Amy Zhang                   \",\n" +
+            "        \"student-faculty-score\": \"100\",\n" +
+            "        \"intl-student-score\": \"95\"\n" +
+            "    }\n" +
+            "]\n";
+        RunTest(ScraperwikiOutput, true);
+        log(project);
+        assertProjectCreated(project, 4, 1);
+        Row row = project.rows.get(0);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row.getCell(1));
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(0).value, "University of Cambridge");
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(1).value, "Amy Zhang");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void doesNotTrimLeadingTrailingWhitespaceOnNoTrimStrings(){
+        String ScraperwikiOutput = 
+            "[\n" +
+            "{\n" +
+            "        \"school\": \"  University of Cambridge  \",\n" +
+            "        \"name\": \"          Amy Zhang                   \",\n" +
+            "        \"student-faculty-score\": \"100\",\n" +
+            "        \"intl-student-score\": \"95\"\n" +
+            "    }\n" +
+            "]\n";
+        RunTest(ScraperwikiOutput);
+        log(project);
+        assertProjectCreated(project, 4, 1);
+        Row row = project.rows.get(0);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row.getCell(1));
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(0).value, "  University of Cambridge  ");
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(1).value, "          Amy Zhang                   ");
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void canParseSampleWithDuplicateNestedElements(){
         RunTest(getSampleWithDuplicateNestedElements());
@@ -414,7 +456,7 @@ public class JsonImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
         return sb.toString();
     }
     
-    private static ObjectNode getOptions(ImportingJob job, TreeImportingParserBase parser, String pathSelector) {
+    private static ObjectNode getOptions(ImportingJob job, TreeImportingParserBase parser, String pathSelector, boolean trimStrings) {
         ObjectNode options = parser.createParserUIInitializationData(
                 job, new LinkedList<>(), "text/json");
         
@@ -423,7 +465,7 @@ public class JsonImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
         JSONUtilities.append(path, pathSelector);
         
         JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "recordPath", path);
-        JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "trimStrings", false);
+        JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "trimStrings", trimStrings);
         JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "storeEmptyStrings", true);
         JSONUtilities.safePut(options, "guessCellValueTypes", false);
 
@@ -510,11 +552,15 @@ public class JsonImporterTests extends ImporterTest {
     
 
     private void RunTest(String testString) {
-        RunTest(testString, getOptions(job, SUT, JsonImporter.ANONYMOUS));
+        RunTest(testString, getOptions(job, SUT, JsonImporter.ANONYMOUS, false));
     }
     
     private void RunComplexJSONTest(String testString) {
-        RunTest(testString, getOptions(job, SUT, "institutes"));
+        RunTest(testString, getOptions(job, SUT, "institutes", false));
+    }
+
+    private void RunTest(String testString, boolean trimStrings) {
+        RunTest(testString, getOptions(job, SUT, JsonImporter.ANONYMOUS, trimStrings));
     }
     
     private void RunTest(String testString, ObjectNode options) {
diff --git a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/importers/XmlImportUtilitiesTests.java b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/importers/XmlImportUtilitiesTests.java
index 941c7b7f8..0173e9816 100644
--- a/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/importers/XmlImportUtilitiesTests.java
+++ b/main/tests/server/src/com/google/refine/importers/XmlImportUtilitiesTests.java
@@ -396,6 +396,52 @@ public class XmlImportUtilitiesTests extends RefineTest {
         //TODO check record
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void trimLeadingTrailingWhitespaceOnTrimString(){
+        loadData("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><library><book id=\"1\"><author><author-name>  author1  </author-name><author-dob>  a date  </author-dob></author><genre>genre1</genre></book></library>");
+        createXmlParser();
+        ParserSkip();
+
+        try {
+            SUT.processRecordWrapper(project, parser, columnGroup, true, false, false);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            Assert.fail();
+        }
+        log(project);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(project.rows);
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.size(), 1);
+        Row row = project.rows.get(0);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row);
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.cells.size(), 4);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row.getCell(1));
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(1).value, "author1");
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row.getCell(2));
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(2).value, "a date");
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void doesNotTrimLeadingTrailingWhitespaceOnNoTrimString(){
+        loadData("<?xml version=\"1.0\"?><library><book id=\"1\"><author><author-name>  author1  </author-name><author-dob>  a date  </author-dob></author><genre>genre1</genre></book></library>");
+        createXmlParser();
+        ParserSkip();
+
+        try {
+            SUT.processRecordWrapper(project, parser, columnGroup, false, false, false);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            Assert.fail();
+        }
+        log(project);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(project.rows);
+        Assert.assertEquals(project.rows.size(), 1);
+        Row row = project.rows.get(0);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row);
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.cells.size(), 4);
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row.getCell(1));
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(1).value, "  author1  ");
+        Assert.assertNotNull(row.getCell(2));
+        Assert.assertEquals(row.getCell(2).value, "  a date  ");
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void addCellTest(){
         String columnLocalName = "author";