diff --git a/src/core/ftd.cmake b/src/core/ftd.cmake
index 179f82641..e0c692bcf 100644
--- a/src/core/ftd.cmake
+++ b/src/core/ftd.cmake
@@ -43,5 +43,6 @@ target_sources(openthread-ftd PRIVATE ${COMMON_SOURCES})
 target_link_libraries(openthread-ftd
     PRIVATE
         ${OT_MBEDTLS}
+        tcplp
         ot-config
 )
diff --git a/src/core/mtd.cmake b/src/core/mtd.cmake
index b8f2533ca..7526f1870 100644
--- a/src/core/mtd.cmake
+++ b/src/core/mtd.cmake
@@ -43,5 +43,6 @@ target_sources(openthread-mtd PRIVATE ${COMMON_SOURCES})
 target_link_libraries(openthread-mtd
     PRIVATE
         ${OT_MBEDTLS}
+        tcplp
         ot-config
 )
diff --git a/third_party/tcplp/CMakeLists.txt b/third_party/tcplp/CMakeLists.txt
index ad34b1184..eafe93aa1 100644
--- a/third_party/tcplp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/third_party/tcplp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -44,3 +44,21 @@ target_include_directories(${tcplp_static_target}
         ${OT_PUBLIC_INCLUDES}
         $<TARGET_PROPERTY:ot-config,INTERFACE_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES>
 )
+
+# TCPlp calls functions that are defined by the core OpenThread (like
+# "otMessageWrite()"), so we need to add the core library (FTD or MTD, as
+# appropriate) as a link dependency.
+
+if(OT_FTD)
+    target_link_libraries(${tcplp_static_target}
+        PRIVATE
+            openthread-ftd
+    )
+endif()
+
+if(OT_MTD)
+    target_link_libraries(${tcplp_static_target}
+        PRIVATE
+            openthread-mtd
+    )
+endif()