diff --git a/package/xmlstarlet/xmlstarlet.mk b/package/xmlstarlet/xmlstarlet.mk
index 992bb8f3ba..e0abf04502 100644
--- a/package/xmlstarlet/xmlstarlet.mk
+++ b/package/xmlstarlet/xmlstarlet.mk
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ XMLSTARLET_CONF_OPTS += \
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_STATIC_LIBS),y)
 XMLSTARLET_CONF_OPTS += --enable-static-libs
+XMLSTARLET_CONF_ENV = LIBS="`$(PKG_CONFIG_HOST_BINARY) --libs libxml-2.0`"
 else
 XMLSTARLET_CONF_OPTS += --disable-static-libs
 endif