Johannesburg, South Africa - Pretoria on Friday criticized a US decision to prioritize white South Africans as refugees accepted into the country, saying it was based on "widely discredited" claims of their persecution.

The Trump administration announced Thursday it would cut its annual refugee quota to a record low of 7,500, with priority for whites from South Africa's Afrikaner community and "other victims of illegal or unjust discrimination in their respective homelands".

Pretoria and Washington have been at loggerheads for months over US allegations that the post-apartheid government persecutes the minority white population, including widely rejected claims of a "white genocide".

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Washington's focus on white South Africans rests "on a premise that is factually inaccurate," the South African foreign ministry said in a statement.

"The claim of a 'white genocide' in South Africa is widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence," it said.

After President Donald Trump in May offered refugee status to Afrikaners, descendants of the first European settlers, a first group of around 50 were flown to the US on a chartered plane.

Others reportedly followed in smaller numbers and on commercial flights, but it is unclear how many have taken up the offer.

The ministry statement said the number was "limited" but gave no figures.

It referenced an open letter from dozens of members of the Afrikaner community rejecting the "narrative that portrays Afrikaners as victims of racist persecution".

The statement said conflating voluntary migration and refugee asylum was a "serious mischaracterization" that undermines international systems to protect persecuted people.

As ties soured between the two countries this year, Washington expelled Pretoria's ambassador in March and imposed 30% tariffs on South African goods in August, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

South Africa has been working to negotiate a better deal to avoid massive job losses for a sputtering economy with a 33% unemployment rate.