diff --git a/lib/saluki-components/src/encoders/datadog/traces/mod.rs b/lib/saluki-components/src/encoders/datadog/traces/mod.rs
index 0abde3977c..e3bb9b2aa8 100644
--- a/lib/saluki-components/src/encoders/datadog/traces/mod.rs
+++ b/lib/saluki-components/src/encoders/datadog/traces/mod.rs
@@ -453,14 +453,15 @@ impl TraceEndpointEncoder {
         let app_version = resolve_app_version(resource_tags);
 
         // Resolve sampling metadata.
-        let (priority, dropped_trace, decision_maker, otlp_sr) = match trace.sampling() {
+        let (priority, dropped_trace, decision_maker, otlp_sr, ets_error) = match trace.sampling() {
             Some(sampling) => (
                 sampling.priority.unwrap_or(DEFAULT_CHUNK_PRIORITY),
                 sampling.dropped_trace,
                 sampling.decision_maker.as_deref(),
                 sampling.otlp_sampling_rate.unwrap_or(sampling_rate),
+                sampling.ets_error,
             ),
-            None => (DEFAULT_CHUNK_PRIORITY, false, None, sampling_rate),
+            None => (DEFAULT_CHUNK_PRIORITY, false, None, sampling_rate, false),
         };
 
         // Now incrementally build the payload.
@@ -561,6 +562,9 @@ impl TraceEndpointEncoder {
                     if let Some(dm) = decision_maker {
                         tags.write_entry(TAG_DECISION_MAKER, dm)?;
                     }
+                    if ets_error {
+                        tags.write_entry("_dd.error_tracking_standalone.error", "true")?;
+                    }
 
                     self.string_builder.clear();
                     write!(&mut self.string_builder, "{:.2}", otlp_sr)
diff --git a/lib/saluki-components/src/transforms/trace_sampler/mod.rs b/lib/saluki-components/src/transforms/trace_sampler/mod.rs
index 7632ae62ed..53b07412e3 100644
--- a/lib/saluki-components/src/transforms/trace_sampler/mod.rs
+++ b/lib/saluki-components/src/transforms/trace_sampler/mod.rs
@@ -296,11 +296,23 @@ impl TraceSampler {
         }
 
         let now = std::time::SystemTime::now();
-        let contains_error = self.trace_contains_error(trace, false);
         let Some(root_span_idx) = self.get_root_span_index(trace) else {
             return (false, PRIORITY_AUTO_DROP, "", None);
         };
 
+        // ETS: only sample traces containing errors (including exception span events); skip all other samplers.
+        // logic taken from: https://github.com/DataDog/datadog-agent/blob/main/pkg/trace/agent/agent.go#L1068
+        if self.error_tracking_standalone {
+            if self.trace_contains_error(trace, true) {
+                let keep = self.error_sampler.sample_error(now, trace, root_span_idx);
+                let priority = if keep { PRIORITY_AUTO_KEEP } else { PRIORITY_AUTO_DROP };
+                return (keep, priority, "", Some(root_span_idx));
+            }
+            return (false, PRIORITY_AUTO_DROP, "", Some(root_span_idx));
+        }
+
+        let contains_error = self.trace_contains_error(trace, false);
+
         // Run the rare sampler early, before all other samplers. This mirrors the Go agent behavior
         // where the rare sampler runs first to catch traces that would otherwise be dropped entirely.
         // logic taken from: https://github.com/DataDog/datadog-agent/blob/main/pkg/trace/agent/agent.go#L1078
@@ -443,9 +455,17 @@ impl TraceSampler {
             if let Some(root_idx) = root_span_idx {
                 self.apply_sampling_metadata(trace, keep, priority, decision_maker, root_idx);
             }
+            // ETS: mark kept error traces so the encoder emits the _dd.error_tracking_standalone.error chunk tag.
+            if self.error_tracking_standalone {
+                if let Some(sampling) = trace.sampling_mut() {
+                    sampling.ets_error = true;
+                }
+            }
             return true;
         }
 
+        // ETS: suppress single span sampling and analytics events for dropped traces.
+        // logic taken from: https://github.com/DataDog/datadog-agent/blob/main/pkg/trace/agent/agent.go#L976
         if self.error_tracking_standalone {
             return false;
         }
@@ -1060,4 +1080,105 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(!keep);
         assert_eq!(priority, PRIORITY_AUTO_DROP);
     }
+
+    // ── Error Tracking Standalone tests ─────────────────────────────────────────
+    // Adapted from datadog-agent/pkg/trace/agent/agent.go runSamplers ETS block.
+
+    fn create_sampler_with_ets() -> TraceSampler {
+        TraceSampler {
+            error_tracking_standalone: true,
+            ..create_test_sampler()
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// ETS enabled + trace with error → kept by error sampler.
+    #[test]
+    fn ets_keeps_trace_with_error() {
+        let mut sampler = create_sampler_with_ets();
+
+        let span = create_test_span(100, 1, 1); // error=1
+        let mut trace = create_test_trace(vec![span]);
+
+        let (keep, priority, decision_maker, _) = sampler.run_samplers(&mut trace);
+        assert!(keep, "ETS should keep traces with errors");
+        assert_eq!(priority, PRIORITY_AUTO_KEEP);
+        assert_eq!(decision_maker, "", "ETS does not set a decision maker");
+    }
+
+    /// ETS enabled + trace without error → dropped; rare/probabilistic/priority not consulted.
+    #[test]
+    fn ets_drops_trace_without_error() {
+        let mut sampler = create_sampler_with_ets();
+
+        let span = create_test_span(101, 1, 0); // error=0
+        let mut trace = create_test_trace(vec![span]);
+
+        let (keep, priority, _, _) = sampler.run_samplers(&mut trace);
+        assert!(!keep, "ETS should drop traces without errors");
+        assert_eq!(priority, PRIORITY_AUTO_DROP);
+    }
+
+    /// ETS enabled + trace without error → SSS and analytics events are suppressed.
+    #[test]
+    fn ets_suppresses_sss_for_dropped_trace() {
+        let mut sampler = create_sampler_with_ets();
+
+        // Span with SSS metric — would normally trigger single span sampling.
+        let mut metrics = saluki_common::collections::FastHashMap::default();
+        metrics.insert(MetaString::from(KEY_SPAN_SAMPLING_MECHANISM), 8.0);
+        let span = create_test_span(102, 1, 0).with_metrics(metrics);
+        let mut trace = create_test_trace(vec![span]);
+
+        let kept = sampler.process_trace(&mut trace);
+        assert!(!kept, "ETS should suppress SSS for non-error traces");
+    }
+
+    /// ETS enabled + trace with error → `ets_error` flag set on sampling metadata.
+    #[test]
+    fn ets_sets_ets_error_flag_on_kept_trace() {
+        let mut sampler = create_sampler_with_ets();
+
+        let span = create_test_span(103, 1, 1); // error=1
+        let mut trace = create_test_trace(vec![span]);
+
+        let kept = sampler.process_trace(&mut trace);
+        assert!(kept);
+        assert!(
+            trace.sampling().is_some_and(|s| s.ets_error),
+            "ets_error should be set on kept ETS traces"
+        );
+    }
+
+    /// ETS enabled + trace with exception span event → kept (exception events count as errors in ETS).
+    #[test]
+    fn ets_keeps_trace_with_exception_span_event() {
+        let mut sampler = create_sampler_with_ets();
+
+        // Span with error=0 but exception span event metadata.
+        let mut meta = saluki_common::collections::FastHashMap::default();
+        meta.insert(
+            MetaString::from("_dd.span_events.has_exception"),
+            MetaString::from("true"),
+        );
+        let span = create_test_span(104, 1, 0).with_meta(meta);
+        let mut trace = create_test_trace(vec![span]);
+
+        let (keep, _, _, _) = sampler.run_samplers(&mut trace);
+        assert!(keep, "ETS should treat exception span events as errors");
+    }
+
+    /// ETS disabled → normal sampling path (probabilistic) is used.
+    #[test]
+    fn ets_disabled_uses_normal_sampling() {
+        let mut sampler = create_test_sampler(); // ETS disabled
+        sampler.sampling_rate = 1.0;
+        sampler.probabilistic_sampler_enabled = true;
+
+        let span = create_test_span(105, 1, 0); // no error
+        let mut trace = create_test_trace(vec![span]);
+
+        let (keep, _, decision_maker, _) = sampler.run_samplers(&mut trace);
+        assert!(keep, "normal probabilistic sampling should keep the trace");
+        assert_eq!(decision_maker, DECISION_MAKER_PROBABILISTIC);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/lib/saluki-core/src/data_model/event/trace/mod.rs b/lib/saluki-core/src/data_model/event/trace/mod.rs
index 9647a8528d..b34ffc4cc0 100644
--- a/lib/saluki-core/src/data_model/event/trace/mod.rs
+++ b/lib/saluki-core/src/data_model/event/trace/mod.rs
@@ -35,6 +35,12 @@ pub struct TraceSampling {
     /// This corresponds to the `_dd.otlp_sr` tag and represents the effective sampling rate
     /// from the OTLP ingest path.
     pub otlp_sampling_rate: Option<f64>,
+
+    /// Whether this trace was kept by Error Tracking Standalone mode.
+    ///
+    /// When true, the encoder emits `_dd.error_tracking_standalone.error = "true"` as a chunk
+    /// tag, signalling to the backend that the trace was sampled under ETS rules.
+    pub ets_error: bool,
 }
 
 impl TraceSampling {
@@ -47,6 +53,7 @@ impl TraceSampling {
             priority,
             decision_maker,
             otlp_sampling_rate,
+            ets_error: false,
         }
     }
 }
@@ -151,6 +158,11 @@ impl Trace {
         self.sampling.as_ref()
     }
 
+    /// Returns a mutable reference to the trace-level sampling metadata, if present.
+    pub fn sampling_mut(&mut self) -> Option<&mut TraceSampling> {
+        self.sampling.as_mut()
+    }
+
     /// Sets the trace-level sampling metadata.
     pub fn set_sampling(&mut self, sampling: Option<TraceSampling>) {
         self.sampling = sampling;