Rest API new product create sets the sku but it is not recognized

If I create new products with the Rest API all fields including the sku are created. I can view the products and the sku’s in the products area. But, if I try and sort by sku on the products page or try to test if the sku exists before adding a new product it is not seen.

Example: $product_id = wc_get_product_id_by_sku($sku); returns 0 even if the sku exists.

If however, I use the bulk edit function and change the status of those new items then the sku is recognized.

What am I missing? Below is my code.

$post_id = wp_insert_post( array(
          'post_author' => $user_id,
          'post_title' => $name,
          'post_status' => $publish,
          'post_type' => "product",
        ) );

        wp_set_object_terms( $post_id, 'simple', 'product_type' );

        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_visibility', 'visible' );
        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_sku', $sku);
        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_price', $regPrice );
        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_regular_price', $regPrice );
        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_tax_class', $tax_class);
        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_stock', $stock );
        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_manage_stock', $manageStock );
        update_post_meta( $post_id, '_backorders', 'no' );

        $term_ids = [];
        foreach ($product_categories as $key => $category) {
        //  $catName = $category->name
          $catId = $category->term_id;
          $catName = $category->name;
            foreach($inCats as $inCat) {
              if ($catName == $inCat ) {
                array_push($term_ids, $catId);
               }
             }
          }
        wp_set_object_terms( $post_id, $term_ids, 'product_cat' );