CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — South African President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke with Donald Trump’s “influential” billionaire adviser Elon Musk a day after the new U.S. president promised to cut funding for South Africa over a land expropriation law, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson said Wednesday.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has moved to defuse a row with the new US administration over a new land law by speaking to Elon Musk. Mr Musk is a close adviser to US President Donald Trump,

Late last month, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a law that allows the state to seize land without compensation in some circumstances to address racial and other disparities in land ownership, which sparked rapid backlash from inside the White House.