diff --git a/js/compiler.ts b/js/compiler.ts
index 842ee77b39..f38330c04a 100644
--- a/js/compiler.ts
+++ b/js/compiler.ts
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ export class Compiler
   private readonly _options: ts.CompilerOptions = {
     allowJs: true,
     checkJs: true,
+    esModuleInterop: true,
     module: ts.ModuleKind.ESNext,
     outDir: "$deno$",
     resolveJsonModule: true,
diff --git a/js/compiler_test.ts b/js/compiler_test.ts
index c5b2ca289f..771fbcc6b6 100644
--- a/js/compiler_test.ts
+++ b/js/compiler_test.ts
@@ -506,6 +506,7 @@ test(function compilerGetCompilationSettings() {
   const expectedKeys = [
     "allowJs",
     "checkJs",
+    "esModuleInterop",
     "module",
     "outDir",
     "resolveJsonModule",
diff --git a/tests/020_json_modules.ts b/tests/020_json_modules.ts
index 71c0eb8db0..fdc85c4409 100644
--- a/tests/020_json_modules.ts
+++ b/tests/020_json_modules.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-import * as config from "./subdir/config.json";
-// TODO Shouldn't need 'default'
-console.log(JSON.stringify(config["default"]));
+import config from "./subdir/config.json";
+console.log(JSON.stringify(config));