BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on cars is wrong and the U.S. president had chosen a path that would produce only losers.

"U.S. President Trump's decision is wrong," Scholz said in a statement. "The U.S. has chosen a path at whose end lie only losers, since tariffs and isolation hurt prosperity, for everyone."

Government officials added that Germany and the European Union would defend free trade as the foundation of their prosperity, with the European Commission, the bloc's executive, in charge of that process.