diff --git a/sdk/all/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/OpenTelemetrySdk.java b/sdk/all/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/OpenTelemetrySdk.java
index 81c1c3dd8c1..4462d18940e 100644
--- a/sdk/all/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/OpenTelemetrySdk.java
+++ b/sdk/all/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/OpenTelemetrySdk.java
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.metrics.SdkMeterProvider;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.SdkTracerProvider;
 import java.io.Closeable;
+import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
@@ -168,6 +170,20 @@ public TracerBuilder tracerBuilder(String instrumentationScopeName) {
     public SdkTracerProvider unobfuscate() {
       return delegate;
     }
+
+    // currently not public as experimental
+    void updateTracerConfigurations() {
+      // and delegate method is experimental so also not public
+      // It would be: delegate.updateTracerConfigurations();
+      try {
+        Method method = SdkTracerProvider.class.getDeclaredMethod("updateTracerConfigurations");
+        method.setAccessible(true);
+        method.invoke(delegate);
+      } catch (NoSuchMethodException | IllegalAccessException | InvocationTargetException e) {
+        throw new IllegalStateException(
+            "Error calling SdkTracerProvider.updateTracerConfigurations(): ", e);
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracer.java b/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracer.java
index 7b74c035e82..19ead2a2128 100644
--- a/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracer.java
+++ b/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracer.java
@@ -19,9 +19,8 @@ final class SdkTracer implements ExtendedTracer {
 
   private final TracerSharedState sharedState;
   private final InstrumentationScopeInfo instrumentationScopeInfo;
-
-  // TODO: add dedicated API for updating scope config.
-  @SuppressWarnings("FieldCanBeFinal") // For now, allow updating reflectively.
+  // deliberately not volatile because of performance concerns
+  // - which means its eventually consistent
   private boolean tracerEnabled;
 
   SdkTracer(
@@ -54,6 +53,11 @@ InstrumentationScopeInfo getInstrumentationScopeInfo() {
     return instrumentationScopeInfo;
   }
 
+  // currently not public as experimental
+  void updateTracerConfig(TracerConfig tracerConfig) {
+    this.tracerEnabled = tracerConfig.isEnabled();
+  }
+
   @Override
   public boolean isEnabled() {
     return tracerEnabled;
diff --git a/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracerProvider.java b/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracerProvider.java
index 036e812c5ab..a7cd24d2264 100644
--- a/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracerProvider.java
+++ b/sdk/trace/src/main/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracerProvider.java
@@ -100,6 +100,16 @@ public Sampler getSampler() {
     return sharedState.getSampler();
   }
 
+  // currently not public as experimental
+  void updateTracerConfigurations() {
+    this.tracerSdkComponentRegistry
+        .getComponents()
+        .forEach(
+            sdkTracer ->
+                sdkTracer.updateTracerConfig(
+                    getTracerConfig(sdkTracer.getInstrumentationScopeInfo())));
+  }
+
   /**
    * Attempts to stop all the activity for {@link Tracer}s created by this provider. Calls {@link
    * SpanProcessor#shutdown()} for all registered {@link SpanProcessor}s.
diff --git a/sdk/trace/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracerTest.java b/sdk/trace/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracerTest.java
index c17c121a36e..0ca18de5f15 100644
--- a/sdk/trace/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracerTest.java
+++ b/sdk/trace/src/test/java/io/opentelemetry/sdk/trace/SdkTracerTest.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.SpanData;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export.BatchSpanProcessor;
 import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.export.SpanExporter;
+import io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.internal.TracerConfig;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicLong;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
@@ -50,6 +51,14 @@ void getInstrumentationScopeInfo() {
     assertThat(tracer.getInstrumentationScopeInfo()).isEqualTo(instrumentationScopeInfo);
   }
 
+  @Test
+  void updateEnabled() {
+    tracer.updateTracerConfig(TracerConfig.disabled());
+    assertThat(tracer.isEnabled()).isFalse();
+    tracer.updateTracerConfig(TracerConfig.enabled());
+    assertThat(tracer.isEnabled()).isTrue();
+  }
+
   @Test
   void propagatesInstrumentationScopeInfoToSpan() {
     ReadableSpan readableSpan = (ReadableSpan) tracer.spanBuilder("spanName").startSpan();