diff --git a/package/Makefile.in b/package/Makefile.in
index eab9168707..0bec9a1c27 100644
--- a/package/Makefile.in
+++ b/package/Makefile.in
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ ifeq ($(BR2_LARGEFILE),y)
 TARGET_CFLAGS+=-D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE -D_LARGEFILE64_SOURCE -D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64
 endif
 
+# Host packages are sometimes linked against host libraries installed
+# in $(HOST_DIR)/usr/lib. As we cannot add $(HOST_DIR)/usr/lib to
+# LD_LIBRARY_PATH when building target packages because it causes
+# libtool breakage, we force a rpath to be added to host binaries.
+HOST_CFLAGS+=-Wl,-rpath -Wl,$(HOST_DIR)/usr/lib
 
 #########################################################################
 ifeq ($(BR2_TOOLCHAIN_BUILDROOT),y)