diff --git a/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/default_span.h b/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/default_span.h
index f0c574243f..14858f7c63 100644
--- a/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/default_span.h
+++ b/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/default_span.h
@@ -67,8 +67,10 @@ class DefaultSpan: public Span {
     DefaultSpan(DefaultSpan&& spn) : span_context_(spn.GetContext()) {}
     DefaultSpan(const DefaultSpan& spn) : span_context_(spn.GetContext()) {}
 
-    trace::Tracer &tracer() noexcept {
-      return tracer_; // Invalid tracer
+    // This is an invalid implementation
+    trace::Tracer &tracer() const noexcept {
+      trace::Tracer tracer = trace::Tracer();
+      return tracer; // Invalid tracer
     }
 
     // Creates an instance of this class with spancontext.
diff --git a/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/span.h b/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/span.h
index c33e61f4ba..3a37e97ca5 100644
--- a/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/span.h
+++ b/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/span.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include "opentelemetry/common/attribute_value.h"
 #include "opentelemetry/core/timestamp.h"
 #include "opentelemetry/nostd/span.h"
+#include "opentelemetry/trace/span_context.h"
 #include "opentelemetry/nostd/string_view.h"
 #include "opentelemetry/trace/canonical_code.h"
 #include "opentelemetry/trace/key_value_iterable_view.h"
@@ -153,7 +154,7 @@ class Span
   // AddEvent).
   virtual bool IsRecording() const noexcept = 0;
 
-  virtual trace::Tracer &tracer() noexcept = 0;
+  virtual trace::Tracer &tracer() const noexcept = 0;
 };
 }  // namespace trace
 OPENTELEMETRY_END_NAMESPACE