The EU mandated USB C, so that -probably- accelerated the switch to usb c. I don't recall Apple viciously fighting the EU on this. They lobbied, they released some statements, but that was it. Nothing 'vicious' I believe 🤷🏻, just protecting their profit margin. They are a for profit company after all. But Apple most assuredly did not push the EU to mandate usb c 😂
Possibly the word "vicious" is a little strong, I agree. But keep in mind that when a multi-trillion dollar company doesn't want to do something a state / union body wants it to, especially when it involves a profitable revenue stream, they make it known in no uncertain terms, which is what Apple did and my assumption is that behind the scenes they complained big time about this, especially considering they were so public in their opposition. We know how careful Apple are about how they're perceived. Don't forget that every public response goes through a fairly tight hierarchy of legal and public relations filters so public opposition from Greg, means literally "f**k you, the EU, this is ridiculous, how dare you tell a business what to do". They ultimately had to aquiesce to the EU because the writing was absolutely on the wall for such a rational change (and you and I are glad of it). Greg Joswiak had something pretty non-sensical to say about it too:
“We think the approach would have been better environmentally and better for our customers to not have a government be that prescriptive”.
https://www.mobileworldlive.com/apple/apple-charges-ahead-with-usb-c-mandate/
His quote doesn't really make any sense - how could staying on a proprietary connector that was useful for just one or two devices (to my knowledge only iPhones and Airpods still used Lightning really at that time) be better environmentally than a connector which is universal for which just about everyone has a charger and a cable for (USB-C), meaning you don't need a backup kit of different cable types when you travel to a friends house, your workplace, a café that offers charging etc. An awful lot of us are glad that the EU were that prescriptive.
Totally agree that USB in general has it's own problems, and that's exactly what happens when a for-profit industry which you were correct to mention, controls a standard (Apple, HP, Microsoft etc). USB has been through so many iterations that its almost become a parody of itself, I just really hope that USB-C is it's last iteration for a really long time.