In steel moment frames or vierendeel trusses comprised of hollow section members, T‐shaped joints are formed that are subjected to brace in‐plane bending moment (IPB). For mild steel, a large number of studies have been conducted on the behavior of tubular T‐joints subjected to IPB. However, the studies for high‐strength steel T‐joints are quite limited and mostly focused on axially loaded cases. In this paper, recent testing program conducted by the authors for high‐strength steel circular hollow section (CHS) T‐joints under IPB was presented. Supplemental numerical parametric study was conducted using the test‐validated nonlinear finite element (FE) analyses. In the FE analyses, various geometric shapes were considered such that the effect of key geometric factors and important failure modes could be identified. Based on the experimental and numerical results, a more rational deformation limit criterion under IPB loading was first proposed which can be applied to both mild and high‐strength steel joints. The chord plastification strength of high‐strength steel joints was evaluated using existing formulae and the required material factor for 700 MPa steel was suggested.