diff --git a/exporters/otlp/otlp.go b/exporters/otlp/otlp.go
index 9bd48919c1c..bde99d527b5 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/otlp.go
+++ b/exporters/otlp/otlp.go
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import (
 	colmetricpb "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/internal/opentelemetry-proto-gen/collector/metrics/v1"
 	coltracepb "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/internal/opentelemetry-proto-gen/collector/trace/v1"
 
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/api/global"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/api/metric"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/exporters/otlp/internal/transform"
 	metricsdk "go.opentelemetry.io/otel/sdk/export/metric"
@@ -301,6 +302,7 @@ func (e *Exporter) uploadTraces(ctx context.Context, sdl []*tracesdk.SpanData) {
 		e.senderMu.Unlock()
 		if err != nil {
 			e.setStateDisconnected(err)
+			global.Handle(err)
 		}
 	}
 }