In its annual human rights report released Tuesday, the US state department accused South Africa of taking “a substantially worrying step towards land expropriation of Afrikaners and further abuses against racial minorities”.

Hit with the highest US tariffs of any sub-Saharan country, South Africa has been a regular target of Trump, who has criticised land and employment laws meant to redress lingering racial inequalities.

Pretoria’s foreign ministry responded Tuesday by expressing “profound disappointment” in the US report.

“We find the report to be an inaccurate and deeply flawed account that fails to reflect the reality of our constitutional democracy,” it said.

A law signed this year by President Cyril Ramaphosa and denounced by Trump allows for the expropriation of land without compensation in rare circumstances.

Land ownership remains a contentious issue in South Africa, with most farmland still owned by white people three decades after the end of apartheid.

Pretoria still hopes to strike a deal with Washington, its third-largest trading partner, to save tens of thousands of jobs in the agricultural, automotive and textiles sectors that are highly dependent on the US market.