diff --git a/lib/tokenize.cpp b/lib/tokenize.cpp
index b232e7bf35d..9d719cfaafa 100644
--- a/lib/tokenize.cpp
+++ b/lib/tokenize.cpp
@@ -2849,8 +2849,8 @@ bool Tokenizer::simplifyUsing()
             continue;
         Token* end = tok->tokAt(3);
         while (end && !Token::Match(end, "[;,]")) {
-            if (end->str() == "<" && end->link()) // skip template args
-                end = end->link()->next();
+            if (end->str() == "<") // skip template args
+                end = end->findClosingBracket();
             else
                 end = end->next();
         }
diff --git a/test/testsimplifyusing.cpp b/test/testsimplifyusing.cpp
index 2ae94df58af..46e0838b3e8 100644
--- a/test/testsimplifyusing.cpp
+++ b/test/testsimplifyusing.cpp
@@ -737,6 +737,16 @@ class TestSimplifyUsing : public TestFixture {
             ASSERT_EQUALS(expected, tok(code, Platform::Type::Native, /*debugwarnings*/ true));
             ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout_str());
         }
+        {
+            const char code[] = "class T : private std::vector<std::pair<std::string, const int*>> {\n" // #12521
+                                "    using std::vector<std::pair<std::string, const int*>>::empty;\n"
+                                "};\n";
+            const char expected[] = "class T : private std :: vector < std :: pair < std :: string , const int * > > { "
+                                    "using empty = std :: vector < std :: pair < std :: string , const int * > > :: empty ; "
+                                    "} ;";
+            ASSERT_EQUALS(expected, tok(code, Platform::Type::Native, /*debugwarnings*/ true));
+            ASSERT_EQUALS("", errout_str());
+        }
     }
 
     void simplifyUsing8970() {