diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
index 85b6a46e85b6..7ec18ff57fc4 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-trace.c
@@ -3964,9 +3964,6 @@ static int trace__run(struct trace *trace, int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	evlist__config(evlist, &trace->opts, &callchain_param);
 
-	signal(SIGCHLD, sig_handler);
-	signal(SIGINT, sig_handler);
-
 	if (forks) {
 		err = evlist__prepare_workload(evlist, &trace->opts.target, argv, false, NULL);
 		if (err < 0) {
@@ -4827,6 +4824,8 @@ int cmd_trace(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 	signal(SIGSEGV, sighandler_dump_stack);
 	signal(SIGFPE, sighandler_dump_stack);
+	signal(SIGCHLD, sig_handler);
+	signal(SIGINT, sig_handler);
 
 	trace.evlist = evlist__new();
 	trace.sctbl = syscalltbl__new();