diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
index 6d10118b3..944a6c15b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ env:
   GDRIVE_CREDENTIALS_DATA: ${{ secrets.GDRIVE_CREDENTIALS_DATA }}
   AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
   AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
+  GS_CREDS_JSON: ${{ secrets.GS_CREDS_JSON }}
 
 jobs:
   lint:
@@ -52,6 +53,11 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         git config --global user.email "dvctester@example.com"
         git config --global user.name "DVC Tester"
+    - name: setup gs creds
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        mkdir -p scripts/ci
+        echo "$GS_CREDS_JSON" > scripts/ci/gcp-creds.json
     - name: run tests
       run: python -m tests -ra --cov-report=xml --cov-report=term
     - name: upload coverage report
diff --git a/tests/remotes/gs.py b/tests/remotes/gs.py
index 3f8e68acf..431e41146 100644
--- a/tests/remotes/gs.py
+++ b/tests/remotes/gs.py
@@ -25,8 +25,6 @@ os.environ["GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS"] = TEST_GCP_CREDS_FILE
 class GCP(Base, CloudURLInfo):
     @staticmethod
     def should_test():
-        from subprocess import CalledProcessError, check_output
-
         do_test = env2bool("DVC_TEST_GCP", undefined=None)
         if do_test is not None:
             return do_test
@@ -34,18 +32,6 @@ class GCP(Base, CloudURLInfo):
         if not os.path.exists(TEST_GCP_CREDS_FILE):
             return False
 
-        try:
-            check_output(
-                [
-                    "gcloud",
-                    "auth",
-                    "activate-service-account",
-                    "--key-file",
-                    TEST_GCP_CREDS_FILE,
-                ]
-            )
-        except (CalledProcessError, OSError):
-            return False
         return True
 
     @cached_property