The irrelevancy of this just reflects the sad state of affairs in the UK after Brexit.
The EU IS the world's "Regulatory Superpower" as all large American companies have discovered.
I think it makes sense. Law making has become the main diplomatic tool inside the EU. If your civil servants view making law as the main way to wield influence inside the block, it’s only normal that they start seeing it as a tool of foreign influence too. It’s effectively “when all you have is a hammer everything starts looking like a nail” applied to a global power.
Would it even matter if they don't? Like okay you don't have to have USB-C in the UK but you do for the entire rest of Europe so it'll all be USB-C anyway.
A lot of very cheap chinese made stuff still uses micro-usb for charging, technically I imagine that stuff is illegal in the EU, though I doubt it's that well enforced.
They might try to dump old stock in the uk
Does this matter to anyone outside the UK?