diff --git a/rules.mk b/rules.mk
index 3971852f454..929d8e00e8d 100644
--- a/rules.mk
+++ b/rules.mk
@@ -278,7 +278,7 @@ PKG_CONFIG:=$(STAGING_DIR_HOST)/bin/pkg-config
 
 export PKG_CONFIG
 
-HOST_FLAGS_OPT:=$(if $(CONFIG_HOST_FLAGS_OPT),$(call qstrip,$(CONFIG_HOST_FLAGS_OPT)),"-O2")
+HOST_FLAGS_OPT:=$(if $(CONFIG_OPTIMIZE_HOST_TOOLS),$(call qstrip,$(CONFIG_HOST_FLAGS_OPT)),-O2)
 HOST_FLAGS_STRIP:=$(call qstrip,$(CONFIG_HOST_FLAGS_STRIP))
 HOST_EXTRA_CFLAGS:=$(call qstrip,$(CONFIG_HOST_EXTRA_CFLAGS))
 HOST_EXTRA_CXXFLAGS:=$(call qstrip,$(CONFIG_HOST_EXTRA_CXXFLAGS))