diff --git a/.changelog/bugfix-fix-static-windows.json b/.changelog/bugfix-fix-static-windows.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b58334b90b5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/bugfix-fix-static-windows.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "type": "bugfix",
+  "category": "aws-cpp-sdk-core",
+  "contributor": "sbiscigl",
+  "description": "fix static linking on msvc"
+}
diff --git a/src/aws-cpp-sdk-core/source/smithy/client/schema/TraitKey.cpp b/src/aws-cpp-sdk-core/source/smithy/client/schema/TraitKey.cpp
index dff0c2f9932..5ea4b7a273c 100644
--- a/src/aws-cpp-sdk-core/source/smithy/client/schema/TraitKey.cpp
+++ b/src/aws-cpp-sdk-core/source/smithy/client/schema/TraitKey.cpp
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ const TraitKey<T>& TraitKey<T>::Instance() {
   return instance;
 }
 
-#ifdef _MSC_VER
+#if defined(_MSC_VER) && defined(USE_IMPORT_EXPORT)
 #define SMITHY_TEMPLATE_EXPORT __declspec(dllexport)
 #else
 #define SMITHY_TEMPLATE_EXPORT