Scottish-farmed salmon, worth £2bn to Scotland’s economy, could be banned from America unless ministers table urgent anti-cruelty legislation to protect marine life.

The US is one of the largest purchasers of the fish cultivated in our lochs and coastal waters, with exports worth up to £200m a year.

Time is running out, however, for the Scottish government to prove that new higher standards of aquaculture welfare are on the statute book and being enforced by March 2021.

Experts claim failure to meet the US deadline could see the door shut on Scottish salmon as early as January 2022.

The warning comes only days after America imposed swingeing 25% tariffs on Scotch whisky and cashmere as part of an ongoing trade war with the European Union,