diff --git a/cpp/cmake_modules/BuildUtils.cmake b/cpp/cmake_modules/BuildUtils.cmake
index 083ac2fe9a862..7a45e9cca59de 100644
--- a/cpp/cmake_modules/BuildUtils.cmake
+++ b/cpp/cmake_modules/BuildUtils.cmake
@@ -97,7 +97,27 @@ function(arrow_create_merged_static_lib output_target)
   endforeach()
 
   if(APPLE)
-    set(BUNDLE_COMMAND "libtool" "-no_warning_for_no_symbols" "-static" "-o"
+    # The apple-distributed libtool is what we want for bundling, but there is
+    # a GNU libtool that has a namecollision (and happens to be bundled with R, too).
+    # We are not compatible with GNU libtool, so we need to avoid it.
+
+    # check in the obvious places first to find Apple's libtool
+    # HINTS is used before system paths and before PATHS, so we use that
+    # even though hard coded paths should go in PATHS
+    # TODO: use a VALIDATOR when we require cmake >= 3.25
+    find_program(LIBTOOL_MACOS libtool HINTS /usr/bin
+                                             /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/usr/bin)
+
+    # confirm that the libtool we found is not GNU libtool
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${LIBTOOL_MACOS} -V
+                    OUTPUT_VARIABLE LIBTOOL_V_OUTPUT
+                    OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+    if(NOT "${LIBTOOL_V_OUTPUT}" MATCHES ".*cctools-([0-9.]+).*")
+      message(FATAL_ERROR "libtool found appears to be the incompatible GNU libtool: ${LIBTOOL_MACOS}"
+      )
+    endif()
+
+    set(BUNDLE_COMMAND ${LIBTOOL_MACOS} "-no_warning_for_no_symbols" "-static" "-o"
                        ${output_lib_path} ${all_library_paths})
   elseif(CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID MATCHES "^(Clang|GNU|Intel|IntelLLVM)$")
     set(ar_script_path ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/${ARG_NAME}.ar)
diff --git a/dev/tasks/r/github.macos-linux.local.yml b/dev/tasks/r/github.macos-linux.local.yml
index 045c387b73f60..b221e8c5d8d5b 100644
--- a/dev/tasks/r/github.macos-linux.local.yml
+++ b/dev/tasks/r/github.macos-linux.local.yml
@@ -58,6 +58,18 @@ jobs:
       - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
         with:
           use-public-rspm: true
+      # CRAN builders have the entire bin here added to the path. This sometimes
+      # includes things like GNU libtool which name-collide with what we expect
+      - name: Add R.framework/Resources/bin to the path
+        if: contains(matrix.os, 'macOS')
+        run: echo "/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+      - name : Check whether libtool in R is used
+        if: contains(matrix.os, 'macOS')
+        run: |
+          if [ "$(which libtool)" != "/Library/Frameworks/R.framework/Resources/bin/libtool" ]; then
+            echo "libtool provided by R isn't found: $(which libtool)"
+            exit 1
+          fi
       - name: Install dependencies
         uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r-dependencies@v2
         with: