Donald Trump has dramatically changed his tone towards Spain after declaring the country has ‘redeemed itself completely’.

The comments came just hours after branding the country a ‘lost cause’ and threatening to cut all trade with the NATO ally.

Speaking to reporters after the second day of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, the US president said Spain had ‘been very generous’ by agreeing to what he described as ‘numerous payments’ to the alliance.

‘I’ve had problems with Spain and I still do, but today it has redeemed itself completely,’ Trump said.

He added that Spain had responded positively to requests for additional contributions, claiming: ‘Had they not done so, I wouldn’t even have spoken to them.’

Trump also praised the atmosphere at the summit, describing it as one of ‘great unity’.

‘There was great unity in that room, the NATO room. It was really quite impressive. There was something very positive about it,’ he said.

The remarks marked a stark contrast with comments he made just hours earlier alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, when he launched an extraordinary attack on Spain over its refusal to commit immediately to spending 5% of GDP on defence.

At the time, Trump branded Spain ‘a lost cause’ and ‘a terrible ally in NATO’, while insisting he wanted to ‘cut all trade’ with the country.

‘Spain is a terrible ally in NATO. They don’t participate. They don’t pay. I don’t want anything to do with Spain. Cut all trade with Spain, please, including visits,’ he said.

Despite those earlier remarks, Trump later described the summit as a success and said he was confident that countries which have not yet committed to the 5% defence spending target – including Spain – would do so ‘quite soon’ after what he called a ‘very positive’ response during the meeting.