diff --git a/products/warehouse_sources/backend/temporal/data_imports/sources/taboola/taboola.py b/products/warehouse_sources/backend/temporal/data_imports/sources/taboola/taboola.py
index 1f5937784c95..29aa9219d414 100644
--- a/products/warehouse_sources/backend/temporal/data_imports/sources/taboola/taboola.py
+++ b/products/warehouse_sources/backend/temporal/data_imports/sources/taboola/taboola.py
@@ -101,7 +101,22 @@ def get_rows(
 ) -> Iterator[list[dict[str, Any]]]:
     config = TABOOLA_ENDPOINTS[endpoint]
     session = _get_session(client_secret)
-    token = _mint_token(session, client_id, client_secret)
+
+    # Unlike the mid-sync re-mint below, nothing else retries this initial mint, so a
+    # transient token-endpoint failure here needs its own backoff instead of failing the
+    # sync outright. Don't reuse `fetch`'s retry for this: it also retries on
+    # TaboolaRetryableError, and re-mint failures already propagate into that retry via the
+    # 401 branch below, so decorating the mint itself too would let the two retries compound.
+    @retry(
+        retry=retry_if_exception_type(TaboolaRetryableError),
+        stop=stop_after_attempt(MAX_RETRY_ATTEMPTS),
+        wait=wait_exponential_jitter(initial=2, max=90),
+        reraise=True,
+    )
+    def mint_initial_token() -> str:
+        return _mint_token(session, client_id, client_secret)
+
+    token = mint_initial_token()
     account_base = f"{TABOOLA_API_BASE_URL}/{_encode_path_segment(account_id)}"
 
     @retry(
@@ -114,7 +129,8 @@ def fetch(url: str) -> dict[str, Any]:
         nonlocal token
         response = session.get(url, headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"}, timeout=REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
 
-        # Access tokens are short-lived; re-mint once if one expires mid-sync.
+        # Access tokens are short-lived; re-mint once if one expires mid-sync. A retryable
+        # failure here isn't retried separately — it propagates to this function's own retry.
         if response.status_code == 401:
             token = _mint_token(session, client_id, client_secret)
             response = session.get(url, headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"}, timeout=REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS)
diff --git a/products/warehouse_sources/backend/temporal/data_imports/sources/taboola/tests/test_taboola.py b/products/warehouse_sources/backend/temporal/data_imports/sources/taboola/tests/test_taboola.py
index 6c2f6cc8aa32..623375bf4846 100644
--- a/products/warehouse_sources/backend/temporal/data_imports/sources/taboola/tests/test_taboola.py
+++ b/products/warehouse_sources/backend/temporal/data_imports/sources/taboola/tests/test_taboola.py
@@ -100,6 +100,20 @@ def test_mid_sync_401_re_mints_token(self, mock_session):
         assert batches == [[{"id": "1"}]]
         assert mock_session.return_value.post.call_count == 2
 
+    @mock.patch("tenacity.nap.time.sleep", return_value=None)
+    @mock.patch(f"{_MODULE}.make_tracked_session")
+    def test_initial_token_mint_retries_on_transient_error(self, mock_session, _sleep):
+        mock_session.return_value.post.side_effect = [
+            _response({}, status_code=503),
+            _token_response(),
+        ]
+        mock_session.return_value.get.return_value = _response({"results": [{"id": "1"}]})
+
+        batches = list(get_rows("cid", "sec", "acct", "campaigns", mock.MagicMock(), _make_manager()))
+
+        assert batches == [[{"id": "1"}]]
+        assert mock_session.return_value.post.call_count == 2
+
 
 class TestCampaignItemsFanOut:
     @mock.patch(f"{_MODULE}.make_tracked_session")