diff --git a/tests/unified_google_tests/google_genai_proxy_test_config.yaml b/tests/unified_google_tests/google_genai_proxy_test_config.yaml
index 9913c05d434..64a83ef3d81 100644
--- a/tests/unified_google_tests/google_genai_proxy_test_config.yaml
+++ b/tests/unified_google_tests/google_genai_proxy_test_config.yaml
@@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ model_list:
   - model_name: vertex-gemini-2.5-flash-lite
     litellm_params:
       model: vertex_ai/gemini-2.5-flash-lite
+      vertex_location: global
+
+router_settings:
+  retry_policy:
+    RateLimitErrorRetries: 5
 
 general_settings:
   master_key: sk-1234
diff --git a/tests/unified_google_tests/test_google_genai_proxy_test_config.py b/tests/unified_google_tests/test_google_genai_proxy_test_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..694ec336bac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unified_google_tests/test_google_genai_proxy_test_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+import time
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Final
+
+import httpx
+import pytest
+import respx
+import yaml
+from pydantic import TypeAdapter
+from typing_extensions import ReadOnly, TypedDict
+
+import litellm
+from litellm import Router
+from litellm.constants import INITIAL_RETRY_DELAY, MAX_RETRY_DELAY
+from litellm.llms.vertex_ai.common_utils import get_vertex_base_url
+from litellm.llms.vertex_ai.vertex_llm_base import VertexBase
+
+CONFIG_PATH: Final = Path(__file__).parent / "google_genai_proxy_test_config.yaml"
+GEMINI_DEPLOYMENT: Final = "gemini-2.5-flash-lite"
+VERTEX_DEPLOYMENT: Final = "vertex-gemini-2.5-flash-lite"
+GEMINI_HOST: Final = "generativelanguage.googleapis.com"
+GEMINI_GENERATE_CONTENT_PATH: Final = "/v1beta/models/gemini-2.5-flash-lite:generateContent"
+VERTEX_GLOBAL_BASE_URL: Final = "https://aiplatform.googleapis.com"
+RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED: Final = {
+    "error": {"code": 429, "message": "Resource exhausted. Please try again later.", "status": "RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED"}
+}
+PONG: Final = {
+    "candidates": [{"content": {"role": "model", "parts": [{"text": "pong"}]}, "finishReason": "STOP"}],
+    "usageMetadata": {"promptTokenCount": 8, "candidatesTokenCount": 1, "totalTokenCount": 9},
+}
+CONSECUTIVE_RATE_LIMITS: Final = 3
+MINIMUM_BACKOFF_SECONDS: Final = sum(
+    min(INITIAL_RETRY_DELAY * 2**attempt, MAX_RETRY_DELAY) for attempt in range(CONSECUTIVE_RATE_LIMITS)
+)
+
+
+class _Deployment(TypedDict):
+    model_name: ReadOnly[str]
+    litellm_params: ReadOnly[dict[str, str]]
+
+
+class _ProxyConfig(TypedDict):
+    model_list: ReadOnly[list[_Deployment]]
+    router_settings: ReadOnly[dict[str, dict[str, int]]]
+
+
+def _ci_proxy_config() -> _ProxyConfig:
+    return TypeAdapter(_ProxyConfig).validate_python(yaml.safe_load(CONFIG_PATH.read_text()))
+
+
+def _litellm_params(config: _ProxyConfig, model_name: str) -> dict[str, str]:
+    return next(
+        deployment["litellm_params"] for deployment in config["model_list"] if deployment["model_name"] == model_name
+    )
+
+
+def _router_from_ci_proxy_config() -> Router:
+    config: Final = _ci_proxy_config()
+    return Router(
+        model_list=[
+            {
+                "model_name": GEMINI_DEPLOYMENT,
+                "litellm_params": {**_litellm_params(config, GEMINI_DEPLOYMENT), "api_key": "test"},
+            }
+        ],
+        retry_policy=config["router_settings"]["retry_policy"],
+    )
+
+
+def test_ci_proxy_config_sends_vertex_calls_to_the_global_endpoint(monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setenv("VERTEXAI_LOCATION", "us-east5")
+    location: Final = VertexBase.safe_get_vertex_ai_location(_litellm_params(_ci_proxy_config(), VERTEX_DEPLOYMENT))
+
+    assert location == "global"
+    assert get_vertex_base_url(location) == VERTEX_GLOBAL_BASE_URL
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_ci_proxy_config_rides_out_consecutive_429s_with_backoff(
+    respx_mock: respx.MockRouter, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setattr(litellm, "disable_aiohttp_transport", True)
+    litellm.in_memory_llm_clients_cache.flush_cache()
+    route: Final = respx_mock.post(host=GEMINI_HOST, path=GEMINI_GENERATE_CONTENT_PATH).mock(
+        side_effect=[httpx.Response(429, json=RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED)] * CONSECUTIVE_RATE_LIMITS
+        + [httpx.Response(200, json=PONG)]
+    )
+    started: Final = time.monotonic()
+    response: Final = await _router_from_ci_proxy_config().agenerate_content(
+        model=GEMINI_DEPLOYMENT,
+        contents=[{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": "Reply with only the single word: pong"}]}],
+    )
+    elapsed: Final = time.monotonic() - started
+
+    assert response.model_dump()["candidates"][0]["content"]["parts"][0]["text"] == "pong"
+    assert route.call_count == CONSECUTIVE_RATE_LIMITS + 1
+    assert elapsed >= MINIMUM_BACKOFF_SECONDS