diff --git a/cloud/services/container/nodepools/reconcile.go b/cloud/services/container/nodepools/reconcile.go
index a643ac0ec..6350589b3 100644
--- a/cloud/services/container/nodepools/reconcile.go
+++ b/cloud/services/container/nodepools/reconcile.go
@@ -370,7 +370,7 @@ func (s *Service) checkDiffAndPrepareUpdateConfig(existingNodePool *containerpb.
 		}
 	}
 	// Kubernetes taints
-	if !cmp.Equal(desiredNodePool.GetConfig().GetTaints(), existingNodePool.GetConfig().GetTaints()) {
+	if !cmp.Equal(desiredNodePool.GetConfig().GetTaints(), existingNodePool.GetConfig().GetTaints(), cmpopts.IgnoreUnexported(containerpb.NodeTaint{})) {
 		needUpdate = true
 		updateNodePoolRequest.Taints = &containerpb.NodeTaints{
 			Taints: desiredNodePool.GetConfig().GetTaints(),
diff --git a/test/e2e/config/gcp-ci.yaml b/test/e2e/config/gcp-ci.yaml
index 23057345e..b9a17e925 100644
--- a/test/e2e/config/gcp-ci.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/config/gcp-ci.yaml
@@ -105,6 +105,8 @@ variables:
   EXP_MACHINE_POOL: "true"
   GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN: "1"
   GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX: "2"
+  GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY: "0"
+  GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY: "1"
   CAPG_LOGLEVEL: "4"
 
 intervals:
diff --git a/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-ci-gke.yaml b/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-ci-gke.yaml
index 72c9d4108..e1e40c160 100644
--- a/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-ci-gke.yaml
+++ b/test/e2e/data/infrastructure-gcp/cluster-template-ci-gke.yaml
@@ -61,4 +61,33 @@ spec:
   scaling:
     minCount: ${GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN}
     maxCount: ${GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX}
-
+---
+apiVersion: cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: MachinePool
+metadata:
+  name: ${CLUSTER_NAME}-critical-addons-only
+spec:
+  clusterName: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
+  replicas: ${WORKER_MACHINE_COUNT}
+  template:
+    spec:
+      bootstrap:
+        dataSecretName: ""
+      clusterName: ${CLUSTER_NAME}
+      infrastructureRef:
+        apiVersion: infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta1
+        kind: GCPManagedMachinePool
+        name: ${CLUSTER_NAME}-critical-addons-only
+---
+apiVersion: infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: GCPManagedMachinePool
+metadata:
+  name: ${CLUSTER_NAME}-critical-addons-only
+spec:
+  scaling:
+    minCount: ${GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY}
+    maxCount: ${GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY}
+  kubernetesTaints:
+    - effect: NoSchedule
+      key: CriticalAddonsOnly
+      value: "true"
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_gke_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_gke_test.go
index 78e6ec53e..35496769e 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_gke_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_gke_test.go
@@ -92,6 +92,10 @@ var _ = Describe("GKE workload cluster creation", func() {
 			Expect(ok).To(BeTrue(), "must have min pool size set via the GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN variable")
 			maxPoolSize, ok := e2eConfig.Variables["GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX"]
 			Expect(ok).To(BeTrue(), "must have max pool size set via the GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX variable")
+			minCriticalAddonsOnlyPoolSize, ok := e2eConfig.Variables["GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY"]
+			Expect(ok).To(BeTrue(), "must have min critical addons only pool size set via the GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY variable")
+			maxCriticalAddonsOnlyPoolSize, ok := e2eConfig.Variables["GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY"]
+			Expect(ok).To(BeTrue(), "must have max critical addons only pool size set via the GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY variable")
 
 			ApplyManagedClusterTemplateAndWait(ctx, ApplyManagedClusterTemplateAndWaitInput{
 				ClusterProxy: bootstrapClusterProxy,
@@ -107,8 +111,10 @@ var _ = Describe("GKE workload cluster creation", func() {
 					ControlPlaneMachineCount: ptr.To[int64](1),
 					WorkerMachineCount:       ptr.To[int64](3),
 					ClusterctlVariables: map[string]string{
-						"GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN": minPoolSize,
-						"GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX": maxPoolSize,
+						"GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN":                      minPoolSize,
+						"GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX":                      maxPoolSize,
+						"GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MIN_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY": minCriticalAddonsOnlyPoolSize,
+						"GKE_MACHINE_POOL_MAX_CRITICAL_ADDONS_ONLY": maxCriticalAddonsOnlyPoolSize,
 					},
 				},
 				WaitForClusterIntervals:      e2eConfig.GetIntervals(specName, "wait-cluster"),