diff --git a/pandas/_libs/hashtable_class_helper.pxi.in b/pandas/_libs/hashtable_class_helper.pxi.in
index 3ce3bc519b311..c251c92cb072a 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/hashtable_class_helper.pxi.in
+++ b/pandas/_libs/hashtable_class_helper.pxi.in
@@ -12,9 +12,6 @@ WARNING: DO NOT edit .pxi FILE directly, .pxi is generated from .pxi.in
 from pandas._libs.tslibs.util cimport get_c_string
 from pandas._libs.missing cimport C_NA
 
-cdef extern from "Python.h":
-    void PyErr_Clear()
-
 {{py:
 
 # name, dtype, c_type
@@ -792,9 +789,9 @@ cdef class StringHashTable(HashTable):
                 labels[i] = na_sentinel
             else:
                 # if ignore_na is False, we also stringify NaN/None/etc.
-                v = get_c_string(<str>val)
-                if v == NULL:
-                    PyErr_Clear()
+                try:
+                    v = get_c_string(<str>val)
+                except UnicodeEncodeError:
                     v = get_c_string(<str>repr(val))
                 vecs[i] = v
 
diff --git a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/util.pxd b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/util.pxd
index e7f6b3334eb65..cc98781dc73cf 100644
--- a/pandas/_libs/tslibs/util.pxd
+++ b/pandas/_libs/tslibs/util.pxd
@@ -219,7 +219,7 @@ cdef inline bint is_nan(object val):
 
 
 cdef inline const char* get_c_string_buf_and_size(str py_string,
-                                                  Py_ssize_t *length):
+                                                  Py_ssize_t *length) except NULL:
     """
     Extract internal char* buffer of unicode or bytes object `py_string` with
     getting length of this internal buffer saved in `length`.
@@ -238,12 +238,8 @@ cdef inline const char* get_c_string_buf_and_size(str py_string,
     -------
     buf : const char*
     """
-    cdef:
-        const char *buf
+    return PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(py_string, length)
 
-    buf = PyUnicode_AsUTF8AndSize(py_string, length)
-    return buf
 
-
-cdef inline const char* get_c_string(str py_string):
+cdef inline const char* get_c_string(str py_string) except NULL:
     return get_c_string_buf_and_size(py_string, NULL)