diff --git a/icu4c/source/Makefile.in b/icu4c/source/Makefile.in
index 617657e05b6..c8ec7ffc3bd 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/Makefile.in
+++ b/icu4c/source/Makefile.in
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ subdir = .
 @EXTRAS_TRUE@EXTRA = extra
 @TESTS_TRUE@TEST = test
 @SAMPLES_TRUE@SAMPLE = samples
+@TOOLS_TRUE@TOOLS = tools
 
 ## pkgconfig setup. Always have uc and i18n. Others are optional.
 ALL_PKGCONFIG_SUFFIX=uc i18n
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ INSTALLED_BUILT_FILES = $(top_builddir)/config/Makefile.inc $(top_builddir)/conf
 LOCAL_BUILT_FILES = icudefs.mk config/icucross.mk config/icucross.inc
 
 DOCDIRS = common i18n
-SUBDIRS =  stubdata common i18n $(LAYOUT) tools data $(ICUIO) $(EXTRA) $(SAMPLE) $(TEST)
+SUBDIRS =  stubdata common i18n $(LAYOUT) $(TOOLS) data $(ICUIO) $(EXTRA) $(SAMPLE) $(TEST)
 
 SECTION = 1
 
@@ -127,7 +128,7 @@ $(DOCZIP): doc
 endif
 
 LOCAL_SUBDIRS = $(SUBDIRS)
-CLEAN_FIRST_SUBDIRS = tools
+CLEAN_FIRST_SUBDIRS = $(TOOLS)
 
 $(LIBDIR) $(BINDIR):
 	-$(MKINSTALLDIRS) $@
diff --git a/icu4c/source/configure b/icu4c/source/configure
index 323a2a0c52d..867be728808 100755
--- a/icu4c/source/configure
+++ b/icu4c/source/configure
@@ -618,6 +618,7 @@ ICULIBSUFFIX
 DATA_PACKAGING_MODE
 thepkgicudatadir
 pkgicudatadir
+TOOLS_TRUE
 LAYOUT_TRUE
 ICUIO_TRUE
 EXTRAS_TRUE
@@ -752,6 +753,7 @@ enable_weak_threads
 enable_extras
 enable_icuio
 enable_layout
+enable_tools
 with_data_packaging
 with_library_suffix
 enable_tests
@@ -1398,6 +1400,7 @@ Optional Features:
   --enable-extras         build ICU extras default=yes
   --enable-icuio          build ICU's icuio library default=yes
   --enable-layout         build ICU's layout library default=yes
+  --enable-tools         build ICU's tools default=yes
   --enable-tests          build ICU tests default=yes
   --enable-samples        build ICU samples default=yes
 
@@ -7199,6 +7202,25 @@ else
   LAYOUT_TRUE='#'
 fi
 
+# Enable/disable tools
+# Check whether --enable-tools was given.
+if test "${enable_tools+set}" = set; then :
+  enableval=$enable_tools; case "${enableval}" in
+		yes) tools=true ;;
+		no)  tools=false ;;
+		*) as_fn_error $? "bad value ${enableval} for --enable-tools" "$LINENO" 5 ;;
+		esac
+else
+  tools=true
+fi
+
+
+if test "$tools" = true; then
+  TOOLS_TRUE=
+else
+  TOOLS_TRUE='#'
+fi
+
 
 # Check whether --with-data-packaging was given.
 if test "${with_data_packaging+set}" = set; then :
@@ -8719,4 +8741,10 @@ if test -n "$UCONFIG_CPPFLAGS"; then
    echo '--------------- end ' "${HDRFILE}"
 fi
 
+if test "$tools" = false;
+then
+        echo "## Note: you have disabled ICU's tools. This ICU cannot build its own data or tests."
+        echo "## Expect build failures in the 'data', 'test', and other directories."
+fi
+
 $as_unset _CXX_CXXSUFFIX
diff --git a/icu4c/source/configure.in b/icu4c/source/configure.in
index 82c2eb7c199..457451396bd 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/configure.in
+++ b/icu4c/source/configure.in
@@ -1058,6 +1058,17 @@ AC_ARG_ENABLE(layout,
 	layout=true)
 ICU_CONDITIONAL(LAYOUT, test "$layout" = true)
 
+# Enable/disable tools
+AC_ARG_ENABLE(tools,
+	[  --enable-tools         build ICU's tools [default=yes]],
+	[case "${enableval}" in
+		yes) tools=true ;;
+		no)  tools=false ;;
+		*) AC_MSG_ERROR(bad value ${enableval} for --enable-tools) ;;
+		esac],
+	tools=true)
+ICU_CONDITIONAL(TOOLS, test "$tools" = true)
+
 AC_ARG_WITH(data-packaging,
 	[  --with-data-packaging=type specify how to package ICU data (files, archive, library, static, auto) [default=auto]],
 	[case "${withval}" in
@@ -1381,4 +1392,10 @@ if test -n "$UCONFIG_CPPFLAGS"; then
    echo '--------------- end ' "${HDRFILE}"
 fi
 
+if test "$tools" = false;
+then
+        echo "## Note: you have disabled ICU's tools. This ICU cannot build its own data or tests."
+        echo "## Expect build failures in the 'data', 'test', and other directories."
+fi
+
 $as_unset _CXX_CXXSUFFIX