Merge libraries to save on size

Hi!

I have a project with CEF library (GitHub - chromiumembedded/cef: Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF). A simple framework for embedding Chromium-based browsers in other applications.) which is quite large. At the moment my projects ends up with a binary file and about 5 different library files.
My question: Can merging these libraries save me some file size? As in: If i use a large library A, and then merge it with a library of my own B (that uses A, but not everything inside A), can I tree shake (or something similar) the resulting merged library in order to save size?

Obviously merging them makes them easier to handle and I’ve found this on that, but I can’t find a clear yes or no on if it can save me any significant filesize.

I tried the approach in the stackoverflow question above, but:

  1. My executable can no longer find the library, its still searching for ./libcef.so although i merged it into another library, not sure how I should rectify that.
  2. I don’t see any significant reduction in size at all, its just one big file with the sum of its part as size.