diff --git a/contrib/python-zstandard/setup_zstd.py b/contrib/python-zstandard/setup_zstd.py
--- a/contrib/python-zstandard/setup_zstd.py
+++ b/contrib/python-zstandard/setup_zstd.py
@@ -145,9 +145,17 @@
 
     include_dirs = set([os.path.join(actual_root, d) for d in ext_includes])
     if not system_zstd:
-        include_dirs.update(
-            [os.path.join(actual_root, d) for d in zstd_includes]
-        )
+        from distutils import sysconfig
+        try:
+            from shlex import quote
+        except ImportError:
+            from pipes import quote
+        includes = []
+        for incdir in [os.path.join(actual_root, d) for d in zstd_includes]:
+           includes.append('-I' + quote(incdir))
+           include_dirs.add(incdir)
+        config_vars = sysconfig.get_config_vars()
+        config_vars['CFLAGS'] = ' '.join(includes + [config_vars.get('CFLAGS', '')])
         if support_legacy:
             include_dirs.update(
                 [os.path.join(actual_root, d) for d in zstd_includes_legacy]