diff --git a/src/rt/jemalloc/Makefile.in b/src/rt/jemalloc/Makefile.in
index 74810472d1170..e3cecb0e840ac 100644
--- a/src/rt/jemalloc/Makefile.in
+++ b/src/rt/jemalloc/Makefile.in
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ vpath % .
 SHELL := /bin/sh
 
 CC := @CC@
+AR := @AR@
 
 # Configuration parameters.
 DESTDIR =
diff --git a/src/rt/jemalloc/configure b/src/rt/jemalloc/configure
index 67f3dc3090277..428ac770a2298 100755
--- a/src/rt/jemalloc/configure
+++ b/src/rt/jemalloc/configure
@@ -4453,7 +4453,7 @@ PIC_CFLAGS='-fPIC -DPIC'
 CTARGET='-o $@'
 LDTARGET='-o $@'
 EXTRA_LDFLAGS=
-MKLIB='ar crus $@'
+MKLIB='$(AR) crus $@'
 CC_MM=1
 
 default_munmap="1"