diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/metrics_exporter/__init__.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/metrics_exporter/__init__.py
index 2078664b439..2cd1ffad66b 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/metrics_exporter/__init__.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/metrics_exporter/__init__.py
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@
 """OTLP Metrics Exporter"""
 
 import logging
-import os
-from typing import List, Optional, Sequence, Type, TypeVar, Union
+from typing import List, Optional, Sequence, Type, TypeVar
 
 from grpc import ChannelCredentials
 
@@ -222,7 +221,8 @@ def _translate_data(
                         sdk_metric_record, data_point_class
                     ),
                     aggregation_temporality=(
-                        AggregationTemporality.AGGREGATION_TEMPORALITY_DELTA
+                        AggregationTemporality.
+                        AGGREGATION_TEMPORALITY_CUMULATIVE
                     ),
                     is_monotonic=True,
                 )
@@ -234,7 +234,8 @@ def _translate_data(
                         sdk_metric_record, data_point_class
                     ),
                     aggregation_temporality=(
-                        AggregationTemporality.AGGREGATION_TEMPORALITY_DELTA
+                        AggregationTemporality.
+                        AGGREGATION_TEMPORALITY_CUMULATIVE
                     ),
                     is_monotonic=False,
                 )
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp/tests/test_otlp_metric_exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp/tests/test_otlp_metric_exporter.py
index 3034fcdf651..3e77b64a8ea 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp/tests/test_otlp_metric_exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp/tests/test_otlp_metric_exporter.py
@@ -133,7 +133,8 @@ def test_translate_metrics(self, mock_time_ns):
                                             )
                                         ],
                                         aggregation_temporality=(
-                                            AggregationTemporality.AGGREGATION_TEMPORALITY_DELTA
+                                            AggregationTemporality.
+                                            AGGREGATION_TEMPORALITY_CUMULATIVE
                                         ),
                                         is_monotonic=True,
                                     ),