diff --git a/src/import.ml b/src/import.ml
index a45d231c..40059e43 100644
--- a/src/import.ml
+++ b/src/import.ml
@@ -306,6 +306,30 @@ module String = struct
           loop i (j + 1) ~last_is_cr:false
     in
     loop 0 0 ~last_is_cr:false
+
+  (* Escape ONLY double quotes.  String.escape also escapes
+     '\n',... and transforms all chars above '~' into '\xxx' which is
+     not suitable for UTF-8 strings. *)
+  let escape_double_quote s =
+    let n = ref 0 in
+    let len = String.length s in
+    for i = 0 to len - 1 do
+      if String.unsafe_get s i = '"' then incr n;
+    done;
+    if !n = 0 then s
+    else (
+      let b = Bytes.create (len + !n) in
+      n := 0;
+      for i = 0 to len - 1 do
+        if String.unsafe_get s i = '"' then (
+          Bytes.unsafe_set b !n '\\';
+          incr n;
+        );
+        Bytes.unsafe_set b !n (String.unsafe_get s i);
+        incr n
+      done;
+      Bytes.unsafe_to_string b
+    )
 end
 
 module Sys = struct
diff --git a/src/meta.ml b/src/meta.ml
index 610d73c3..f5e1dbea 100644
--- a/src/meta.ml
+++ b/src/meta.ml
@@ -236,13 +236,23 @@ let pp_list f ppf l =
       Format.pp_print_cut ppf ();
       f ppf x)
 
-let pp_value var =
+let pp_print_text ppf s =
+  Format.fprintf ppf "\"@[<hv>";
+  Format.pp_print_text ppf (String.escape_double_quote s);
+  Format.fprintf ppf "@]\""
+
+let pp_print_string ppf s =
+  Format.fprintf ppf "\"@[<hv>";
+  Format.pp_print_string ppf (String.escape_double_quote s);
+  Format.fprintf ppf "@]\""
+
+let pp_quoted_value var =
   match var with
   | "archive" | "plugin" | "requires"
   | "ppx_runtime_deps" | "linkopts" | "jsoo_runtime" ->
-    Format.pp_print_text
+     pp_print_text
   | _ ->
-    Format.pp_print_string
+     pp_print_string
 
 let rec pp ppf entries =
   Format.fprintf ppf "@[<v>%a@]" (pp_list pp_entry) entries
@@ -253,12 +263,12 @@ and pp_entry ppf entry =
   | Comment s ->
     fprintf ppf "# %s" s
   | Rule { var; predicates = []; action; value } ->
-    fprintf ppf "@[%s %s \"@[<hv>%a@]\"@]"
-      var (string_of_action action) (pp_value var) value
+    fprintf ppf "@[%s %s %a@]"
+      var (string_of_action action) (pp_quoted_value var) value
   | Rule { var; predicates; action; value } ->
-    fprintf ppf "@[%s(%s) %s \"@[<hv>%a@]\"@]"
+    fprintf ppf "@[%s(%s) %s %a@]"
       var (String.concat ~sep:"," (List.map predicates ~f:string_of_predicate))
-      (string_of_action action) (pp_value var) value
+      (string_of_action action) (pp_quoted_value var) value
   | Package { name; entries } ->
     fprintf ppf "@[<v 2>package %S (@,%a@]@,)"
       name pp entries