Everyone spies on everyone but when an American businessman is arrested the UK or when a Spanish businessman is arrested in Australia, something that I'll bet you has happened many times, generally speaking the US will not grab British "spies" and throw them in the dungeon pending the release of their businessman.
I will concede this was a very high profile extradition request but if let's say Sir James Dyson is arrested on charges of fraud in the US the UK is not going to grab CIA spies and throw them in the dungeon. If he did commit fraud in the US he would likely go to jail. Maybe he'll serve his jail term in the UK. Maybe he'll be pardoned through some diplomacy.
What your describing is something that would have been a practice of sorts during the cold war between Russia and the US. Essentially something you do when you're at war.
EDIT: I'm not familiar enough with the Hunter Biden case but possibly something fishy was going on (e.g. this laptop suddenly appearing). Trump is... Trump. The rule of law is not perfect, people in power can get away with things the rest of us can't, but nothing is perfect. In place without the rule of law many people just disappear and you have no recourse and people in power get away with a lot more.
I will concede this was a very high profile extradition request but if let's say Sir James Dyson is arrested on charges of fraud in the US the UK is not going to grab CIA spies and throw them in the dungeon. If he did commit fraud in the US he would likely go to jail. Maybe he'll serve his jail term in the UK. Maybe he'll be pardoned through some diplomacy.
Some Googling shows this isn't fiction: https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jul/28/cle...
What your describing is something that would have been a practice of sorts during the cold war between Russia and the US. Essentially something you do when you're at war.
EDIT: I'm not familiar enough with the Hunter Biden case but possibly something fishy was going on (e.g. this laptop suddenly appearing). Trump is... Trump. The rule of law is not perfect, people in power can get away with things the rest of us can't, but nothing is perfect. In place without the rule of law many people just disappear and you have no recourse and people in power get away with a lot more.