diff --git a/Include/cpython/pyerrors.h b/Include/cpython/pyerrors.h
index cdd052026c1ba2..dd3c2caa0cc043 100644
--- a/Include/cpython/pyerrors.h
+++ b/Include/cpython/pyerrors.h
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ typedef PyOSErrorObject PyWindowsErrorObject;
 /* Error handling definitions */
 
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) _PyErr_SetKeyError(PyObject *);
-_PyErr_StackItem *_PyErr_GetTopmostException(PyThreadState *tstate);
+PyAPI_FUNC(_PyErr_StackItem*) _PyErr_GetTopmostException(PyThreadState *tstate);
 PyAPI_FUNC(void) _PyErr_GetExcInfo(PyThreadState *, PyObject **, PyObject **, PyObject **);
 
 /* Context manipulation (PEP 3134) */
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2020-05-07-11-41-13.bpo-40545.51DzF1.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2020-05-07-11-41-13.bpo-40545.51DzF1.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..d7f256a2a6b527
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/C API/2020-05-07-11-41-13.bpo-40545.51DzF1.rst	
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Declare ``_PyErr_GetTopmostException()`` with ``PyAPI_FUNC()`` to properly
+export the function in the C API. The function remains private (``_Py``)
+prefix.