diff --git a/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py b/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
index c49b374bc054..b7d464252dc1 100755
--- a/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
+++ b/deepspeed/runtime/engine.py
@@ -1482,6 +1482,9 @@ def save_checkpoint(self, save_dir, tag=None, client_state={}, save_latest=True)
         if tag is None:
             tag = f"global_step{self.global_steps}"
 
+        # Ensure tag is a string
+        tag = str(tag)
+
         # Ensure checkpoint tag is consistent across ranks
         self._checkpoint_tag_validation(tag)