Washington DC - President Donald Trump said that he is likely to extend the deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer as his temporary pause on a ban targeting the platform is set to expire.

When asked if he would extend the deadline if a TikTok deal failed to be reached by April 5, Trump simply said: "Probably, yeah."

"We'll see... Right now, we have at least another month, so we don’t need an extension. "But if I need an extension, I'll probably get it extended."

Trump stayed TikTok's ban hours before his inauguration and then signed an executive order that provided a 75-day window for ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese owner, to sell.

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The decision brought TikTok back online after it went dark on January 19 when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a ban mandated in a bill signed into law by President Joe Biden.

"We have a lot of interest in TikTok," Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday. "China is going to play a role, so hopefully China will approve of the deal."

"They are going to be play a role – but we have a lot of interest in TikTok."

The effort to sell TikTok is reportedly being led by Vice President JD Vance, and has fueled much speculation as to who might take over the reins.

YouTuber MrBeast threw his hat in the ring in January, and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian on Monday announced he was placing a bid on the company.

Elon Musk has long seemed a likely candidate due to his prior purchase of Twitter – now X – and his closeness to Trump.

ByteDance has so far has categorically refused to sell the social media giant.