I hate it when companies want to track me and put a pop-up on their first page to ask my permission to do so. I don't care about cookies being placed on my system by my browser and that in and of itself isn't illegal under GDPR, I just don't want to consent to being tracked by corporations for profit or be tracked for profit without my consent.

If companies choose to comply with EU law because they want to do business in the EU that's up to them, they don't have to.