diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/core.c b/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
index b225aacf4b89c34cce1f5d1148512952afbe9809..933e67c60e338b8bd929d2079cf8f921dd7e30d0 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/core.c
@@ -49,10 +49,9 @@ unsigned char shutdown_timeout = 5;
 module_param(shutdown_timeout, byte, 0644);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(shutdown_timeout, "timeout in seconds for controller shutdown");
 
-unsigned int nvme_max_retries = 5;
+static unsigned int nvme_max_retries = 5;
 module_param_named(max_retries, nvme_max_retries, uint, 0644);
 MODULE_PARM_DESC(max_retries, "max number of retries a command may have");
-EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(nvme_max_retries);
 
 static int nvme_char_major;
 module_param(nvme_char_major, int, 0);
diff --git a/drivers/nvme/host/nvme.h b/drivers/nvme/host/nvme.h
index 227f281482db9b8f8caef9a1091e59c2f533b72b..82ba9a305301680d7dad3c8718415e74174304a0 100644
--- a/drivers/nvme/host/nvme.h
+++ b/drivers/nvme/host/nvme.h
@@ -43,8 +43,6 @@ extern unsigned char shutdown_timeout;
 #define NVME_DEFAULT_KATO	5
 #define NVME_KATO_GRACE		10
 
-extern unsigned int nvme_max_retries;
-
 enum {
 	NVME_NS_LBA		= 0,
 	NVME_NS_LIGHTNVM	= 1,