The U.S. has been doing this for decades, applying U.S. laws to global citizens who happen to travel to the U.S, and I'm not even talking about kidnapping foreign citizens and taking them to Cuba.
You need to travel to the US. They are applying laws domestically.
The US is quite opposed to extrajurisdictional law enforcement which is why they don’t sign onto things like the International Criminal Court.
And a US citizen who chooses to break EU law has very little to worry about unless they travel to an EU country, where that country's law will be applied.
> No. It is quite definitely not true that you must comply with the laws of countries you are not in.
Unless you wish to do business with that country, in which case you need permission from that country in order to do business with its residents. If you break their laws they can place sanctions against you, and if you find a way to break those you can theoretically be punished legally through extradition.
If you don't do business with those countries then you're off the hook. Obviously.
Just look at the recent Project Gutenberg copyright lawsuit for an example of how breaking the law of a country you are not in can cause you legal troubles.
The EU is primarily leveraging the fact that most everyone wants to travel to the EU eventually.
While you in your home country you have no need to comply with the GDPR unless a treaty between your home country and the EU exists to mandate it.
The EU is also leveraging their trade agreements.
What they don’t understand is that China is next and they have totally diametrically opposed views on consumer privacy. But when has the EU ever been farsighted?