WASHINGTON, Nov 14, (AP): US President-elect Donald Trump is famously unconventional, but he made conventional picks for his two top foreign policy positions. That could be reassuring to American allies, while China and Iran have reasons to be wary. Trump on Wednesday announced his choice of Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state.

Two days earlier, he picked Rep. Mike Waltz for national security adviser. Both men share Trump's hard-line stance on China and Iran. They have shown themselves willing to adapt their foreign-policy positions to echo aspects of Trump’s more isolationist "America First” approach - a requirement for anyone serving under a president who demands absolute loyalty.

But both are fairly mainstream conservatives with foreign policy experience who have previously differed with Trump on Russia, NATO and other issues. They've also been open to working with Democrats - a point underscored when Sen Mark Warner, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Rubio would be a "strong voice for American interests” abroad.

Rubio and Waltz stand in contrast to some other national security selections. Trump named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host untested on the global stage, as defense secretary. He picked a congresswoman with little foreign policy experience, Rep Elise Stefanik, as ambassador to the United Nations. His choice for ambassador to Israel, former Arkansas Gov Mike Huckabee, rejects the two-state solution to the conflict with Palestinians.

And US allies may be relieved that Rubio was selected over Richard Grenell for secretary of state. Grenell is an ardent and combative Trump advocate and former diplomat and intelligence official, with a reputation for favoring autocratic strongmen abroad. Rubio, a 14-year veteran of the Senate, is a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Foreign Relations Committee.

His roots as the son of Cuban immigrants who worked as a bartender and a hotel maid after coming to the United States helped shape his tough positions on the leftist governments of Cuba and Venezuela. While Trump has alarmed US allies in Europe with his criticism of the NATO military alliance and praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose war on Ukraine has galvanized European fears of Russian expansionism, Rubio was instrumental in the Senate in securing the U.S. position in NATO.