For a Silicon Valley based company hiring EU lawyers, no. Engineers are more expensive. Also, for a Silicon Valley company with limited or no EU presence, the time value of money may make incurring that deferred cost worth the saves near-term engineering time.

Laws should be followed. But laws must be enforced. OP’s point is valid. The EU passed a law and delegated enforcement to its various members, each of whom have varying levels (and interpretations) of enforcement around different parts of the text.

Until that changes, GDPR compliance will remain a courtesy. Not a right.