diff --git a/src/passes/DeadArgumentElimination.cpp b/src/passes/DeadArgumentElimination.cpp
index 42d8d87a6a9..27cc915e0a4 100644
--- a/src/passes/DeadArgumentElimination.cpp
+++ b/src/passes/DeadArgumentElimination.cpp
@@ -233,6 +233,23 @@ struct DAE : public Pass {
   // and then use that possibly-over-approximating data.
   std::vector<std::vector<Name>> callers;
 
+  // A count of how many iterations we saw unprofitable removals of parameters.
+  // An unprofitable removal is one where we only manage to remove from a single
+  // call, that is, from one call target and it has a single call going to it.
+  // Such calls are not very interesting, as when there is a single call like
+  // that then inlining will handle it anyhow, in most cases, and inlining
+  // does so far more efficiently in situations of call chains:
+  //
+  //   a -> b -> c -> d
+  //
+  // Imagine we remove a param from d, and so we remove it from the call in c.
+  // If c received that as a parameter, and only ever used it to call d, then
+  // now we can remove a param from c, and from the call in b, and so forth -
+  // requiring a full iteration each time to find the small amount of progress.
+  // (Inlining, otoh, will inline b into a, then c into a, and d into a,
+  // efficiently.)
+  Index unprofitableRemovalIters = 0;
+
   bool iteration(Module* module, DAEFunctionInfoMap& infoMap) {
     allDroppedCalls.clear();
 
@@ -381,33 +398,58 @@ struct DAE : public Pass {
       ReFinalize().run(getPassRunner(), module);
     }
     // We now know which parameters are unused, and can potentially remove them.
-    for (Index index = 0; index < numFunctions; index++) {
-      auto* func = module->functions[index].get();
-      if (func->imported()) {
-        continue;
-      }
-      if (hasUnseenCalls[index]) {
-        continue;
-      }
-      auto numParams = func->getNumParams();
-      if (numParams == 0) {
-        continue;
-      }
-      auto& calls = allCalls[index];
-      if (calls.empty()) {
-        continue;
-      }
-      auto name = func->name;
-      auto [removedIndexes, outcome] = ParamUtils::removeParameters(
-        {func}, infoMap[name].unusedParams, calls, {}, module, getPassRunner());
-      if (!removedIndexes.empty()) {
-        // Success!
-        worthOptimizing.insert(func);
-        markStale(name);
-        markCallersStale(index);
+    // Only do so if we didn't run into unprofitable removals - if so, leave
+    // any further removals for other invocations of this pass. (This avoids us
+    // getting stuck in long unprofitable call chains as mentioned in the
+    // comment earlier; note that we do process one unprofitable iteration
+    // before giving up here, so we do make progress at least.)
+    if (!unprofitableRemovalIters) {
+      Index removals = 0;
+      Index singleCallerRemovals = 0;
+      for (Index index = 0; index < numFunctions; index++) {
+        auto* func = module->functions[index].get();
+        if (func->imported()) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        if (hasUnseenCalls[index]) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        auto numParams = func->getNumParams();
+        if (numParams == 0) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        auto& calls = allCalls[index];
+        if (calls.empty()) {
+          continue;
+        }
+        auto name = func->name;
+        auto [removedIndexes, outcome] =
+          ParamUtils::removeParameters({func},
+                                       infoMap[name].unusedParams,
+                                       calls,
+                                       {},
+                                       module,
+                                       getPassRunner());
+        if (!removedIndexes.empty()) {
+          // Success!
+          worthOptimizing.insert(func);
+          markStale(name);
+          markCallersStale(index);
+          if (calls.size() == 1) {
+            singleCallerRemovals++;
+          }
+          removals++;
+        }
+        if (outcome == ParamUtils::RemovalOutcome::Failure) {
+          callTargetsToLocalize.insert(name);
+        }
       }
-      if (outcome == ParamUtils::RemovalOutcome::Failure) {
-        callTargetsToLocalize.insert(name);
+      if (removals == 1 && singleCallerRemovals == 1 &&
+          callTargetsToLocalize.empty()) {
+        // We only removed parameters from one function, and it had a single
+        // caller, and we don't have other pending actions (call targets we
+        // need to localize), so this was unprofitable as mentioned earlier.
+        unprofitableRemovalIters++;
       }
     }
     // We can also tell which calls have all their return values dropped. Note