diff --git a/cmd/cmdtrace/cmd_span.go b/cmd/cmdtrace/cmd_span.go
index cce3e5db3f3..a08a158b480 100644
--- a/cmd/cmdtrace/cmd_span.go
+++ b/cmd/cmdtrace/cmd_span.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 
 	dockercli "github.com/docker/cli/cli"
 	"github.com/docker/cli/cli/command"
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	flag "github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
@@ -110,9 +111,9 @@ func wrapRunE(c *cobra.Command, cmdSpan trace.Span, tracingShutdown tracing.Shut
 			// been canceled already
 			ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 100*time.Millisecond)
 			defer cancel()
-			// TODO(milas): add an env var to enable logging from the
-			// OTel components for debugging purposes
-			_ = tracingShutdown(ctx)
+			if err := tracingShutdown(ctx); err != nil {
+				logrus.WithError(err).Debug("otel: shutdown error")
+			}
 		}
 		return cmdErr
 	}
diff --git a/internal/tracing/errors.go b/internal/tracing/errors.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 9fa615054c0..00000000000
--- a/internal/tracing/errors.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-/*
-   Copyright 2023 Docker Compose CLI authors
-
-   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-   You may obtain a copy of the License at
-
-       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-
-   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-   limitations under the License.
-*/
-
-package tracing
-
-import (
-	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel"
-)
-
-// skipErrors is a no-op otel.ErrorHandler.
-type skipErrors struct{}
-
-// Handle does nothing, ignoring any errors passed to it.
-func (skipErrors) Handle(_ error) {}
-
-var _ otel.ErrorHandler = skipErrors{}
diff --git a/internal/tracing/tracing.go b/internal/tracing/tracing.go
index 85325dbea0f..ffb68ec9746 100644
--- a/internal/tracing/tracing.go
+++ b/internal/tracing/tracing.go
@@ -40,8 +40,6 @@ import (
 
 func init() {
 	detect.ServiceName = "compose"
-	// do not log tracing errors to stdio
-	otel.SetErrorHandler(skipErrors{})
 }
 
 // OTLPConfig contains the necessary values to initialize an OTLP client