diff --git a/pandas/_libs/src/inference.pyx b/pandas/_libs/src/inference.pyx
index 6e964077dd56e..cb192fcced318 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/src/inference.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/src/inference.pyx
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ from decimal import Decimal
 cimport util
 cimport cython
 from tslibs.nattype import NaT
-from tslib cimport convert_to_tsobject
+from tslibs.conversion cimport convert_to_tsobject
 from tslibs.timedeltas cimport convert_to_timedelta64
 from tslibs.timezones cimport get_timezone
 from datetime import datetime, timedelta
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslib.pxd b/pandas/_libs/tslib.pxd
deleted file mode 100644
index b74cf5b79c4cb..0000000000000
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslib.pxd
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-from numpy cimport ndarray, int64_t
-
-from tslibs.conversion cimport convert_to_tsobject
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslib.pyx b/pandas/_libs/tslib.pyx
index 6d8cf39114f6f..020ac812e1c20 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslib.pyx
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslib.pyx
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@
 # distutils: define_macros=CYTHON_TRACE_NOGIL=0
 
 cimport numpy as np
-from numpy cimport int64_t, import_array, ndarray, float64_t
+from numpy cimport int64_t, ndarray, float64_t
 import numpy as np
+np.import_array()
 
 
 from cpython cimport PyTypeObject, PyFloat_Check
@@ -35,18 +36,15 @@ from tslibs.np_datetime cimport (check_dts_bounds,
                                  dayofweek, is_leapyear)
 from tslibs.np_datetime import OutOfBoundsDatetime
 
-from .tslibs.parsing import parse_datetime_string
+from tslibs.parsing import parse_datetime_string
 
 cimport cython
+from cython cimport Py_ssize_t
 
-import warnings
 
 import pytz
 UTC = pytz.utc
 
-# initialize numpy
-import_array()
-
 
 from tslibs.timedeltas cimport cast_from_unit
 from tslibs.timedeltas import Timedelta
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 37be0b696503d..da897b0b539b6 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -517,7 +517,9 @@ def pxd(name):
         'depends': _pxi_dep['join']},
     '_libs.lib': {
         'pyxfile': '_libs/lib',
-        'pxdfiles': ['_libs/src/util', '_libs/missing'],
+        'pxdfiles': ['_libs/src/util',
+                     '_libs/missing',
+                     '_libs/tslibs/conversion'],
         'depends': lib_depends + tseries_depends},
     '_libs.missing': {
         'pyxfile': '_libs/missing',