diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7cab9302a09..7844a8c9059 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   ([#2959](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/2959))
 - Add http-metric instrument names to semantic conventions
   ([#2976](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/2976))
+- Fix a bug with exporter retries for with newer versions of the backoff library
+  ([#2980](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/pull/2980))
 
 ## [1.13.0-0.34b0](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-python/releases/tag/v1.13.0) - 2022-09-26
 
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/grpc/exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/grpc/exporter.py
index 4405bcad68b..2f1ba2df3dd 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/grpc/exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/grpc/exporter.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 from opentelemetry.sdk.trace import ReadableSpan
 
-from backoff import expo
+import backoff
 from google.rpc.error_details_pb2 import RetryInfo
 from grpc import (
     ChannelCredentials,
@@ -183,6 +183,20 @@ def _get_credentials(creds, environ_key):
     return ssl_channel_credentials()
 
 
+# Work around API change between backoff 1.x and 2.x. Since 2.0.0 the backoff
+# wait generator API requires a first .send(None) before reading the backoff
+# values from the generator.
+if next(backoff.expo()) is None:
+
+    def _expo(*args, **kwargs):
+        gen = backoff.expo(*args, **kwargs)
+        gen.send(None)
+        return gen
+
+else:
+    _expo = backoff.expo
+
+
 # pylint: disable=no-member
 class OTLPExporterMixin(
     ABC, Generic[SDKDataT, ExportServiceRequestT, ExportResultT]
@@ -296,7 +310,7 @@ def _export(
         # expo returns a generator that yields delay values which grow
         # exponentially. Once delay is greater than max_value, the yielded
         # value will remain constant.
-        for delay in expo(max_value=max_value):
+        for delay in _expo(max_value=max_value):
 
             if delay == max_value:
                 return self._result.FAILURE
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/logs/test_otlp_logs_exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/logs/test_otlp_logs_exporter.py
index a9c63eaa0a0..07616090837 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/logs/test_otlp_logs_exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/logs/test_otlp_logs_exporter.py
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ def test_otlp_exporter_endpoint(self, mock_secure, mock_insecure):
             )
             mock_method.reset_mock()
 
-    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.expo")
+    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter._expo")
     @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.sleep")
     def test_unavailable(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
 
@@ -265,7 +265,7 @@ def test_unavailable(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
         )
         mock_sleep.assert_called_with(1)
 
-    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.expo")
+    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter._expo")
     @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.sleep")
     def test_unavailable_delay(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
 
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/metrics/test_otlp_metrics_exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/metrics/test_otlp_metrics_exporter.py
index 262e26ed637..0e3e26b7476 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/metrics/test_otlp_metrics_exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/metrics/test_otlp_metrics_exporter.py
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ def test_otlp_exporter_endpoint(self, mock_secure, mock_insecure):
             )
             mock_method.reset_mock()
 
-    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.expo")
+    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter._expo")
     @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.sleep")
     def test_unavailable(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
 
@@ -464,7 +464,7 @@ def test_unavailable(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
         )
         mock_sleep.assert_called_with(1)
 
-    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.expo")
+    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter._expo")
     @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.sleep")
     def test_unavailable_delay(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
 
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/test_otlp_exporter_mixin.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/test_otlp_exporter_mixin.py
index 3f44ef228ee..81a874af705 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/test_otlp_exporter_mixin.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/test_otlp_exporter_mixin.py
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ def test_environ_to_compression(self):
             with self.assertRaises(InvalidCompressionValueException):
                 environ_to_compression("test_invalid")
 
-    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.expo")
+    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter._expo")
     def test_export_warning(self, mock_expo):
 
         mock_expo.configure_mock(**{"return_value": [0]})
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/test_otlp_trace_exporter.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/test_otlp_trace_exporter.py
index a5cb4e699a6..210d657e0c3 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/test_otlp_trace_exporter.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-grpc/tests/test_otlp_trace_exporter.py
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ def test_otlp_headers(self, mock_ssl_channel, mock_secure):
         # pylint: disable=protected-access
         self.assertIsNone(exporter._headers, None)
 
-    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.expo")
+    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter._expo")
     @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.sleep")
     def test_unavailable(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
 
@@ -450,7 +450,7 @@ def test_unavailable(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
         )
         mock_sleep.assert_called_with(1)
 
-    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.expo")
+    @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter._expo")
     @patch("opentelemetry.exporter.otlp.proto.grpc.exporter.sleep")
     def test_unavailable_delay(self, mock_sleep, mock_expo):
 
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/_log_exporter/__init__.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/_log_exporter/__init__.py
index a74f849f406..1be841f62ae 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/_log_exporter/__init__.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/_log_exporter/__init__.py
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
 from typing import Dict, Optional, Sequence
 from time import sleep
 
+import backoff
 import requests
-from backoff import expo
 
 from opentelemetry.sdk.environment_variables import (
     OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_CERTIFICATE,
@@ -53,6 +53,19 @@
 DEFAULT_LOGS_EXPORT_PATH = "v1/logs"
 DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 10  # in seconds
 
+# Work around API change between backoff 1.x and 2.x. Since 2.0.0 the backoff
+# wait generator API requires a first .send(None) before reading the backoff
+# values from the generator.
+if next(backoff.expo()) is None:
+
+    def _expo(*args, **kwargs):
+        gen = backoff.expo(*args, **kwargs)
+        gen.send(None)
+        return gen
+
+else:
+    _expo = backoff.expo
+
 
 class OTLPLogExporter(LogExporter):
 
@@ -122,7 +135,7 @@ def export(self, batch: Sequence[LogData]) -> LogExportResult:
 
         serialized_data = _ProtobufEncoder.serialize(batch)
 
-        for delay in expo(max_value=self._MAX_RETRY_TIMEOUT):
+        for delay in _expo(max_value=self._MAX_RETRY_TIMEOUT):
 
             if delay == self._MAX_RETRY_TIMEOUT:
                 return LogExportResult.FAILURE
diff --git a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/trace_exporter/__init__.py b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/trace_exporter/__init__.py
index a65bc44320f..b64a8587d35 100644
--- a/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/trace_exporter/__init__.py
+++ b/exporter/opentelemetry-exporter-otlp-proto-http/src/opentelemetry/exporter/otlp/proto/http/trace_exporter/__init__.py
@@ -20,8 +20,8 @@
 from typing import Dict, Optional
 from time import sleep
 
+import backoff
 import requests
-from backoff import expo
 
 from opentelemetry.sdk.environment_variables import (
     OTEL_EXPORTER_OTLP_TRACES_CERTIFICATE,
@@ -54,6 +54,19 @@
 DEFAULT_TRACES_EXPORT_PATH = "v1/traces"
 DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 10  # in seconds
 
+# Work around API change between backoff 1.x and 2.x. Since 2.0.0 the backoff
+# wait generator API requires a first .send(None) before reading the backoff
+# values from the generator.
+if next(backoff.expo()) is None:
+
+    def _expo(*args, **kwargs):
+        gen = backoff.expo(*args, **kwargs)
+        gen.send(None)
+        return gen
+
+else:
+    _expo = backoff.expo
+
 
 class OTLPSpanExporter(SpanExporter):
 
@@ -133,7 +146,7 @@ def export(self, spans) -> SpanExportResult:
 
         serialized_data = _ProtobufEncoder.serialize(spans)
 
-        for delay in expo(max_value=self._MAX_RETRY_TIMEOUT):
+        for delay in _expo(max_value=self._MAX_RETRY_TIMEOUT):
 
             if delay == self._MAX_RETRY_TIMEOUT:
                 return SpanExportResult.FAILURE