President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged the United States government’s newfound hostility to South Africa’s domestic policies on Thursday during his State of the Union address — stating that his government and people will not buckle under pressure from the White House.

“We are witnessing the rise of nationalism, protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests, and the decline of common cause,” Ramaphosa said. “This is the world that we as South Africa, a developing economy, must now navigate, but we are not daunted. We are, as South Africans, a resilient people, and we will not be bullied.”

“We will speak with one voice in defense of our national interest, our sovereignty, and our constitutional democracy,” Ramaphosa continued. “By staying true to our values, by harnessing our unique strengths and endowments, and by forging a common purpose, we can turn these trying circumstances to our advantage and propel our country forward.”

It’s the latest rhetorical swing in a developing feud between the U.S. and South Africa — kicked off when Trump announced over the weekend that he would be cutting all future foreign aid to the country due to its new Expropriation Act, which will allow the confiscation of private property without reimbursement.

The new law is widely seen as targeting white South African farmers, who still own the vast majority of farmland in the country three decades after the end of apartheid. Previous laws forced the government to pay landholders for expropriated property in a “willing buyer, willing seller” arrangement.”

“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY. It is a bad situation that the Radical Left Media doesn’t want to so much as mention,” Trump said. “A massive Human Rights VIOLATION, at a minimum, is happening for all to see. The United States won’t stand for it, we will act. Also, I will be cutting off all future funding to South Africa until a full investigation of this situation has been completed!”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio via social media on Wednesday that he will not attend the G20 summit convening in Johannesburg on Feb. 20, citing South Africa’s continued “anti-Americanism,” redistributive policies, and “DEI” agenda.

“I will NOT attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg. South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote ‘solidarity, equality, and sustainability.’ In other words: DEI and climate change,” Rubio said.

He added, “My job is to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism.”

Ramaphosa later touched more explicitly on increasingly messy diplomacy with the United States during his speech, lamenting how the U.S. suspension of foreign aid will threaten operations aimed at combatting the spread of HIV and tuberculosis.

“We are concerned about the potential impact of the decision by the United States government to suspend some of its funding for HIV and TB programs in African countries for ninety days. Now this funding that we get accounts for about 17% of our country’s HIV [budget],” the South African president told the nation.

He continued, “We have been able, over the years, to provide funding from our own resources, our own [finances], for HIV and TB programs. We are looking at various interventions to address the immediate needs and ensure the continuity of the essential services that we might lose if this funding does not come through.”

During the speech, Ramaphosa also announced a new federal fund to provide assistance to black business owners — and offered a justification for his government’s continued prioritizing of black citizens generally.

“For many decades, our economy has been held back by the exclusion of the vast majority of the South African people. Black South Africans were deprived of land, of capital, of skills, of opportunities,” Ramaphosa said during his address. “Our economy was starved of the potential of its people. And that is why we need to transform our economy and make it more inclusive. That is why our focus is on empowering black people, women, and persons with disabilities because they were deliberately excluded from playing a key role in the economy of their own country.”

Tech billionaire and close Trump ally Elon Musk, himself a South African immigrant to the U.S., has played an outsize role in communicating with his former home country.

The Department of Government Efficiency head reportedly spoke to Ramaphosa the day after Trump threatened to cut foreign aid — a discussion that South African presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya described as “logical” in nature.

Magwenya told reporters that the president “flagged our concern with respect to the disinformation that we saw in the announcement by President Trump, but also in his own response to our statement.”

Musk sharply criticized the Land Expropriation Act as part of a larger agenda of “openly racist ownership laws” pushed by South African officials.

The tech billionaire has personal, financial motivations in his rhetorical war on South Africa as well — his satellite internet company Starlink was unable to obtain licensing to operate within the country due its failure to meet affirmative action requirements.

Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut accused Musk of engaging in a “revenge campaign” and called Trump’s foreign policy cuts “just billionaire business tactics.

“What heartbreaking corruption,” Murphy said on Musk’s own social media platform, X.

South African leaders will have until the end of Trump’s near-universal 90-day freeze on foreign aid to work out its differences with the administration or risk being permanently left addressing the issue of AIDS and TB on their own.