diff --git a/include/toplevel.mk b/include/toplevel.mk
index 0b5ac2686fd76e9a3298a4619079905e46f7cb09..03c5b1f5484313d2ac1941d474fd0aef6091263c 100644
--- a/include/toplevel.mk
+++ b/include/toplevel.mk
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ unexport LPATH
 
 # make sure that a predefined CFLAGS variable does not disturb packages
 export CFLAGS=
+export LDFLAGS=
 
 empty:=
 space:= $(empty) $(empty)