diff --git a/src/BlazorWebView/src/Maui/Windows/BlazorWebViewHandler.Windows.cs b/src/BlazorWebView/src/Maui/Windows/BlazorWebViewHandler.Windows.cs
index 66e44a550b81..818e97aac615 100644
--- a/src/BlazorWebView/src/Maui/Windows/BlazorWebViewHandler.Windows.cs
+++ b/src/BlazorWebView/src/Maui/Windows/BlazorWebViewHandler.Windows.cs
@@ -58,7 +58,14 @@ private void StartWebViewCoreIfPossible()
 
 			var fileProvider = VirtualView.CreateFileProvider(contentRootDir);
 
-			_webviewManager = new WinUIWebViewManager(NativeView, Services!, ComponentsDispatcher, fileProvider, VirtualView.JSComponents, hostPageRelativePath, contentRootDir);
+			_webviewManager = new WinUIWebViewManager(NativeView,
+				Services!,
+				ComponentsDispatcher,
+				fileProvider,
+				VirtualView.JSComponents,
+				hostPageRelativePath,
+				contentRootDir,
+				ExternalLinkMode);
 
 			if (RootComponents != null)
 			{
diff --git a/src/BlazorWebView/src/Maui/Windows/WinUIWebViewManager.cs b/src/BlazorWebView/src/Maui/Windows/WinUIWebViewManager.cs
index 9a1378614013..f4a948ef0ec3 100644
--- a/src/BlazorWebView/src/Maui/Windows/WinUIWebViewManager.cs
+++ b/src/BlazorWebView/src/Maui/Windows/WinUIWebViewManager.cs
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 using Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Core;
 using Windows.ApplicationModel;
 using Windows.Storage.Streams;
+using Launcher = Windows.System.Launcher;
 using WebView2Control = Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Controls.WebView2;
 
 namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Components.WebView.Maui
@@ -21,13 +22,25 @@ public class WinUIWebViewManager : WebView2WebViewManager
 		private readonly WebView2Control _webview;
 		private readonly string _hostPageRelativePath;
 		private readonly string _contentRootDir;
+		private readonly ExternalLinkMode _externalLinkMode;
 
-		public WinUIWebViewManager(WebView2Control webview, IServiceProvider services, Dispatcher dispatcher, IFileProvider fileProvider, JSComponentConfigurationStore jsComponents, string hostPageRelativePath, string contentRootDir)
+		public WinUIWebViewManager(
+			WebView2Control webview!!,
+			IServiceProvider services,
+			Dispatcher dispatcher,
+			IFileProvider fileProvider,
+			JSComponentConfigurationStore jsComponents,
+			string hostPageRelativePath,
+			string contentRootDir,
+			ExternalLinkMode externalLinkMode)
 			: base(webview, services, dispatcher, fileProvider, jsComponents, hostPageRelativePath)
 		{
 			_webview = webview;
 			_hostPageRelativePath = hostPageRelativePath;
 			_contentRootDir = contentRootDir;
+			_externalLinkMode = externalLinkMode;
+
+			_webview.CoreWebView2Initialized += Webview_CoreWebView2Initialized;
 		}
 
 		protected override async Task HandleWebResourceRequest(CoreWebView2WebResourceRequestedEventArgs eventArgs)
@@ -102,5 +115,33 @@ protected override void QueueBlazorStart()
 					");
 			};
 		}
+
+		private void Webview_CoreWebView2Initialized(WebView2Control sender, UI.Xaml.Controls.CoreWebView2InitializedEventArgs args)
+		{
+			_webview.CoreWebView2.NavigationStarting += CoreWebView2_NavigationStarting;
+			_webview.CoreWebView2.NewWindowRequested += CoreWebView2_NewWindowRequested;
+		}
+
+		private void CoreWebView2_NavigationStarting(CoreWebView2 sender, CoreWebView2NavigationStartingEventArgs args)
+		{
+			if (Uri.TryCreate(args.Uri, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute, out var uri) &&
+				uri.Host != "0.0.0.0" && 
+				_externalLinkMode == ExternalLinkMode.OpenInExternalBrowser)
+			{
+				_ = Launcher.LaunchUriAsync(uri);
+				args.Cancel = true;
+			}
+		}
+
+		private void CoreWebView2_NewWindowRequested(CoreWebView2 sender, CoreWebView2NewWindowRequestedEventArgs args)
+		{
+			// Intercept _blank target <a> tags to always open in device browser
+			// regardless of ExternalLinkMode.OpenInWebview
+			if (Uri.TryCreate(args.Uri, UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute, out var uri))
+			{
+				_ = Launcher.LaunchUriAsync(uri);
+				args.Handled = true;
+			}
+		}
 	}
 }