diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
index a2690b3f5fc..c202f5cbea1 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/__init__.py
@@ -872,10 +872,6 @@ def __init__(
         self.instrumentation_info = instrumentation_info
         self._limits = None
 
-    def _with_limits(self, limits: _Limits) -> "Tracer":
-        self._limits = limits
-        return self
-
     @contextmanager
     def start_as_current_span(
         self,
@@ -1023,7 +1019,7 @@ def get_tracer(
         if not instrumenting_module_name:  # Reject empty strings too.
             instrumenting_module_name = ""
             logger.error("get_tracer called with missing module name.")
-        return Tracer(
+        tracer = Tracer(
             self.sampler,
             self.resource,
             self._active_span_processor,
@@ -1031,7 +1027,9 @@ def get_tracer(
             InstrumentationInfo(
                 instrumenting_module_name, instrumenting_library_version
             ),
-        )._with_limits(self._limits)
+        )
+        tracer._limits = self._limits
+        return tracer
 
     def add_span_processor(self, span_processor: SpanProcessor) -> None:
         """Registers a new :class:`SpanProcessor` for this `TracerProvider`.
diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
index 760f1fa5275..c9c523c3fab 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/tests/trace/test_trace.py
@@ -549,6 +549,7 @@ def test_surplus_span_links(self):
             self.assertEqual(len(root.links), max_links)
 
     def test_surplus_span_attributes(self):
+        # pylint: disable=protected-access
         max_attrs = trace._Limits().max_attributes
         attributes = {str(idx): idx for idx in range(0, 16 + max_attrs)}
         tracer = new_tracer()