I'm trying to build a project with Webpack 5.74.0 (after installing it globally):

webpack --config src/webpack.config.js

My src/webpack.config.js file uses import syntax, eg:

import ReactRefreshPlugin from '@pmmmwh/react-refresh-webpack-plugin';

But that should be fine because I have:

"type": "module"

in the project's package.json. However, despite that, when I run Webpack I get:

[webpack-cli] Failed to load '/home/me/project/src/webpack.config.js' config
[webpack-cli] /home/me/project/src/webpack.config.js:1
import ReactRefreshPlugin from '@pmmmwh/react-refresh-webpack-plugin';
^^^^^^

SyntaxError: Cannot use import statement outside a module
    at Object.compileFunction (node:vm:352:18)
    at wrapSafe (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1033:15)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1069:27)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1159:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:981:32)
    at Function.Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:822:12)
    at Module.require (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1005:19)
    at require (node:internal/modules/cjs/helpers:102:18)
    at WebpackCLI.tryRequireThenImport (/home/me/project/node_modules/webpack-cli/lib/webpack-cli.js:204:22)
    at loadConfigByPath (/home/me/project/node_modules/webpack-cli/lib/webpack-cli.js:1404:38)

I understand that I can use loaders to enable import syntax in the project I'm building ... but how can I fix Webpack to read the config file, if it ignores my package.json?

EDIT: I found a workaround: if I rename webpack.config.js => webpack.config.mjs (ie. I force it to recognize the file as an ES Module file) everything works.

But, it still doesn't answer why Webpack ignores "type": "module" in my package.json, so I'm leaving the question open in hopes of understanding that.