Donald Trump says TikTok sale deal will be in place before Saturday deadline

The US president said there were ‘a lot of potential buyers’ (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

US President Donald Trump has said a deal for TikTok’s Chinese parent firm to sell the platform will be in place before a deadline on Saturday.

The April 5 deadline was set by the president when he entered office in January, with ByteDance having until then to find a non-Chinese buyer for TikTok’s US business or face a ban on national security grounds.