diff --git a/tuf/api/metadata.py b/tuf/api/metadata.py
index 7818f181d7..3006b173c2 100644
--- a/tuf/api/metadata.py
+++ b/tuf/api/metadata.py
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ def __init__(
     ) -> None:
         val = keyval["public"]
         if not all(isinstance(at, str) for at in [keyid, keytype, scheme, val]):
-            raise ValueError("Unexpected Key attributes types!")
+            raise TypeError("Unexpected Key attributes types!")
         self.keyid = keyid
         self.keytype = keytype
         self.scheme = scheme