diff --git a/package/msmtp/msmtp.mk b/package/msmtp/msmtp.mk
index 079c7c2319..db3d42cd94 100644
--- a/package/msmtp/msmtp.mk
+++ b/package/msmtp/msmtp.mk
@@ -46,10 +46,6 @@ MSMTP_DEPENDENCIES += gnutls
 else ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_OPENSSL),y)
 MSMTP_CONF_OPTS += --with-tls=openssl
 MSMTP_DEPENDENCIES += openssl
-ifeq ($(BR2_STATIC_LIBS),y)
-# openssl uses zlib, so we need to explicitly link with it when static
-MSMTP_CONF_ENV += LIBS=-lz
-endif
 else
 MSMTP_CONF_OPTS += --with-tls=no
 endif