The so-called land question has been a decades-long dilemma for South Africa. A new law seeks to right some of the wrongs of apartheid but has prompted claims from critics that it discriminates against White farmers.

Another area identified by Mr Trump is property rights. In a move that America’s president seems to have conflated with actual land seizures, on January 23rd Cyril Ramaphosa, his South African counterpart, signed the Expropriation Act, which gives the state new powers to expropriate property in the “public interest”.

South Africa relationship needs a rethink. But the Trump administration’s approach is only making a bad situation worse.