South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that his country "will not be bullied," days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would cut off funding to South Africa over a land reform act.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended South Africa's Expropriation Act, introduced in January, saying that it will "balance the need for public usage of land and the protection of the rights of property owners". Ramaphosa vehemently denied that the policy targets white landowners, as Trump had insinuated.

Trump’s comments waded into a sensitive racial issue and deepened already sharp divisions between the United States and South Africa.