diff --git a/retrieval/target.go b/retrieval/target.go
index 0c34fb81f..17cdcc3c9 100644
--- a/retrieval/target.go
+++ b/retrieval/target.go
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ func newHTTPClient(cfg *config.ScrapeConfig) (*http.Client, error) {
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to read bearer token file %s: %s", cfg.BearerTokenFile, err)
 		}
-		bearerToken = string(b)
+		bearerToken = strings.TrimSpace(string(b))
 	}
 
 	if len(bearerToken) > 0 {