diff --git a/driver/linker-gcc.cpp b/driver/linker-gcc.cpp
index c9d67b73ff..b1e5038dbf 100644
--- a/driver/linker-gcc.cpp
+++ b/driver/linker-gcc.cpp
@@ -577,7 +577,9 @@ void ArgsBuilder::addLinker() {
     // Default to ld.gold on Linux due to ld.bfd issues with ThinLTO (see #2278)
     // and older bfd versions stripping llvm.used symbols (e.g., ModuleInfo
     // refs) with --gc-sections (see #2870).
-    args.push_back("-fuse-ld=gold");
+    // Can be overridden by `-linker=` (explicitly empty).
+    if (opts::linker.getNumOccurrences() == 0)
+      args.push_back("-fuse-ld=gold");
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/driver/tool.cpp b/driver/tool.cpp
index aeb1fb167d..d1dd8b3c7d 100644
--- a/driver/tool.cpp
+++ b/driver/tool.cpp
@@ -27,10 +27,12 @@
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 
 namespace opts {
-llvm::cl::opt<std::string>
-    linker("linker", llvm::cl::ZeroOrMore, llvm::cl::desc("Linker to use"),
-           llvm::cl::value_desc("lld-link|lld|gold|bfd|..."),
-           llvm::cl::cat(opts::linkingCategory));
+llvm::cl::opt<std::string> linker(
+    "linker", llvm::cl::ZeroOrMore,
+    llvm::cl::value_desc("lld-link|lld|gold|bfd|..."),
+    llvm::cl::desc("Set the linker to use. When explicitly set to '' "
+                   "(nothing), prevents LDC from passing `-fuse-ld` to `cc`."),
+    llvm::cl::cat(opts::linkingCategory));
 }
 
 static llvm::cl::opt<std::string>
diff --git a/tests/linking/linker_empty.d b/tests/linking/linker_empty.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f66d3d56d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/linking/linker_empty.d
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+// Check that the user can override LDC passing `-fuse-ld` to `cc`.
+
+// REQUIRES: target_X86
+
+// RUN: %ldc --gcc=echo --mtriple=x86_64-linux --linker= %s | FileCheck %s
+
+// CHECK-NOT: -fuse-ld
+// CHECK: linker_empty
+// CHECK-NOT: -fuse-ld