The laws of physics as currently understood -- i.e., the laws in the best model we' ve got -- are in fact CPT-symmetric but not T-symmetric. (Because the best model we've got is a quantum field theory of the sort that the CPT theorem applies to; and because CP symmetry is violated (1) by that model and (2) in reality, according to the available evidence.)

Sure, there are plenty of small simple cellular automata with T-symmetry. And also with P-symmetry, which does not hold in the real world. So far as I know, CAs with PT symmetry are just about exactly as easy to make as ones with T symmetry. (And if you have CAs with a property corresponding to C, I bet CPT is as easy to arrange as T.) Why is any of this meant to mean that T-symmetry is simpler than CPT-symmetry?

You may find the idea of "charge as a pump" appealing; fair enough. I am at a loss to see why that is a reason for thinking that T symmetry is simpler than CPT symmetry.

Your argument, so far as you've provided one, seems to go like this: "I expect the universe to work like a cellular automaton. I have the feeling that T symmetry is simpler than CPT symmetry in cellular automata. Therefore the CPT theorem is irrelevant and we should expect T symmetry to prevail but not CPT symmetry". This strikes me as very strange since (1) we have very successful physical theories that are QFTs (to which the CPT theorem applies) and no successful physical theories based on cellular automata, and (2) the CPT theorem is an actual theorem governing QFTs, whereas your intuitions for relative simplicity are merely your intuitions.