diff --git a/Lib/trace.py b/Lib/trace.py
index eb21fde387b..fa24fc1cc35 100644
--- a/Lib/trace.py
+++ b/Lib/trace.py
@@ -493,7 +493,6 @@ def runctx(self, cmd, globals=None, locals=None):
             threading.settrace(self.globaltrace)
             sys.settrace(self.globaltrace)
         try:
-            del sys.modules['pickle']
             exec(cmd, globals, locals)
         finally:
             if not self.donothing: