There's one key lesson Trump could learn from the history books as he continues to fight his trade war against China

• President Trump struck a tentative "phase one" trade deal with China last week, helping de-escalate tensions between the powerhouse economies in the short-run after nearly two years of tariffs slapped on each other's products.
• Some experts said the United States underestimated Chinese resolve and fought it to a draw this time around.
• From the American viewpoint, another conflict borne out of a trade dispute and outsized expectations may carry lessons for Trump: the War of 1812, according to trade historian Doug Irwin.
• The young American government had underestimated the resolve of its enemy to fight and guard a crown jewel of its sprawling empire - similar to the Chinese government's determination to protect its powerful economy from foreign interference, Irwin argues.
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President Trump struck a tentative "phase one" trade deal with China last week. The move helped to de-escalate tensions between the powerhouse economies in the short-run after nearly two years of tariffs being slapped on each other's products.

Beijing and Washington are still wrangling over the fine print. But Trump agreed to roll back the $360 billion in tariffs on Chinese goods over time.

China, on the other hand, didn't give up much. It committed to buy agricultural products it needed to purchase anyway and managed to preserve economic practices the president long sought to change. China is expected to buy $200 billion worth of US goods over the next two years.

Some experts said the United States underestimated Chinese resolve and fought it to a draw this time around.

"Trump tried to bully them; they hung tough; and are basically ending up where they started, buying agricultural products while selling us increasingly sophisticated manufacturing goods," economist Paul Krugman tweeted after the deal was announced.

Still, it didn't prevent the White House from claiming a victory for an "amazing" and "historic" deal that actually punted most tough aspects, such as Chinese subsidies for state-owned companies, down the road.

From the American viewpoint, another conflict borne out of a trade dispute and outsized expectations may carry lessons for Trump: The War of 1812, according to trade historian Doug Irwin.

"We go in saying we're gonna remake China, hit them and they'll really feel the pain so they'll accede to our demands," Irwin told Business Insider. "But in the end its just, 'well, we just reopened these agricultural markets.'"

An undeniable historical parallel

The US went to war against Great Britain, an economic rival at the time but also its largest trading partner, after years of British attempts to choke off its trade with France, another critical partner.

With Britain busy fending off Napoleon's advance across Europe, many US lawmakers were optimistic and believed they had an opportunity to confront a weakened enemy. Aggrieved and determined to expand northward, the American government resolved to invade and annex Canada, a British territory.

One oft-repeated slogan among Americans was "On to Canada!"

"War hawks in Congress believed we were just going to march into Canada and unify all of North America," said Irwin, a Dartmouth professor. "Of course, it didn't work out that way since the British were very strong."

British forces repelled the invading poorly-trained Americans. The failure to capture Canada forced the US to vastly readjust the parameters of victory as the war dragged on, Irwin said - eventually culminating with the British marching into Washington and setting the White House on fire.

"It only took a few months when we realized it wasn't gonna be easy at all and we might end up as the loser. The rallying cry at the end of the war was 'Not one inch of territory lost or ceded,'" Irwin said. "It's a way of redefining your objectives from unifying North America and taking over Canada to 'well, we didn't lose anything.'

The war ended with a treaty that largely restored the status quo between the US and Britain - there were no territorial swaps.

The young American government had underestimated the resolve of its enemy to fight and guard a crown jewel of its sprawling empire - similar to the Chinese government's determination to protect its powerful economy from foreign interference, Irwin argues.

"We think we're being tough, but other countries have domestic interests that want to be tough too," Irwin said. "And the fear is that if you give into the US on a few things, they'll come back and ask for more. You have to resist immediately or the demands will never stop."

China resents bullying from foreign powers, a product of its century of humiliation when its territory was carved up by the West that some experts say still informs trade negotiations on their side today.

"There's a historical legacy here" Irwin said. "They don't want domination from foreigners and they resent blustery demands that they change their system to our benefit."