diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 3a9e8d7..10aef79 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ target_link_libraries(oxenmq PRIVATE Threads::Threads)
 if(TARGET oxenc::oxenc)
     add_library(_oxenmq_external_oxenc INTERFACE IMPORTED)
     target_link_libraries(_oxenmq_external_oxenc INTERFACE oxenc::oxenc)
-    target_link_libraries(oxenmq INTERFACE _oxenmq_external_oxenc)
+    target_link_libraries(oxenmq PUBLIC _oxenmq_external_oxenc)
     message(STATUS "using pre-existing oxenc::oxenc target")
 elseif(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
     include(FindPkgConfig)