CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim this week that there is an unreported “genocide” happening against white farmers in South Africa was his harshest accusation yet against a country he moved to punish over a range of issues soon after returning to office.

The Trump administration’s hostile approach to South Africa was shaped by a convergence of factors. White South Africans at a rally outside the United States Embassy in Pretoria in February.Credit...Joao Silva/The New York Times Supported by By Zolan Kanno-Youngs Erica L.

The visit comes after Trump cut all foreign assistance to the country and parroted false allegations that white South Africans are being subjected to a genocide, while granting them refugee status in the U.