The 2001 Mw = 8.4 southern Peru subduction earthquake marked the beginning of a transient postseismic surface motion in direction of the coseismic displacement at the permanent GPS station Arequipa. In general this motion is assigned to afterslip. Our hypothesis is that the observed transient signal can be explained by stress relaxation processes in the overriding plate. We use a 2D finite element model incorporating non-linear viscoelastic Maxwell rheology. Our model results indicate that coseismically induced stresses are relieved by viscoelastic stress relaxation in the lower crust. The trenchward directed creep motion is transferred to the upper crust due to elastic coupling leading there to an instantaneous relief of elastic stresses. In contrast to the existing conceptual models for stress relaxation, which incorporate shear stresses, we conclude that tensional elastic stresses throughout the crust and upper mantle are the main driving forces for the transient GPS signal.