diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/repeated_field.cc b/src/google/protobuf/repeated_field.cc
index 9e1d41957fc2..ebafc9bbd9c6 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/repeated_field.cc
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/repeated_field.cc
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 #include "google/protobuf/repeated_field.h"
 
 #include <algorithm>
+#include <string>
 
 #include "google/protobuf/stubs/logging.h"
 #include "google/protobuf/stubs/common.h"
@@ -54,7 +55,6 @@ template class PROTOBUF_EXPORT_TEMPLATE_DEFINE RepeatedField<int64_t>;
 template class PROTOBUF_EXPORT_TEMPLATE_DEFINE RepeatedField<uint64_t>;
 template class PROTOBUF_EXPORT_TEMPLATE_DEFINE RepeatedField<float>;
 template class PROTOBUF_EXPORT_TEMPLATE_DEFINE RepeatedField<double>;
-template class PROTOBUF_EXPORT_TEMPLATE_DEFINE RepeatedPtrField<std::string>;
 
 namespace internal {
 template class PROTOBUF_EXPORT_TEMPLATE_DEFINE RepeatedIterator<bool>;
diff --git a/src/google/protobuf/repeated_ptr_field.h b/src/google/protobuf/repeated_ptr_field.h
index 699b6c764d32..8d3a310c9e13 100644
--- a/src/google/protobuf/repeated_ptr_field.h
+++ b/src/google/protobuf/repeated_ptr_field.h
@@ -2021,9 +2021,6 @@ UnsafeArenaAllocatedRepeatedPtrFieldBackInserter(
       mutable_field);
 }
 
-extern template class PROTOBUF_EXPORT_TEMPLATE_DECLARE
-    RepeatedPtrField<std::string>;
-
 }  // namespace protobuf
 }  // namespace google