Equipment financiers say outlook brightened by reshoring, lower interest rates

The potential for reshoring, lower interest rates and more clarity surrounding tariffs is boosting equipment lenders’ outlook for 2026. 

Equipment finance originations totaled $80.9 billion through the first eight months of 2025, down 2.7% year over year, according to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.  

While tariffs have hindered equipment finance growth in 2025, they are poised to spur an increase in domestic manufacturing and drive financing opportunities in the coming years, Bob Rinaldi, president of Rinaldi Advisory Services, told Equipment Finance News at the National Equipment Finance Association Conference in Minneapolis this week. Rinaldi Advisory Services provides consulting services for equipment lenders and OEMs.  

“What [lenders] should be seeing and getting prepared for now is the fruition of a lot of the onshoring and reshoring.

— Bob Rinaldi, Rinaldi Advisory Services

Construction and manufacturing equipment industries especially stand to benefit, he added. 

“Automation is going to be a major part of that because the demographics of our country aren’t such that we’re going to be able to fill all these [manufacturing] jobs,” he said. “So they’re going to have to automate most of it.” 

Whether tariffs present more challenges or opportunities in 2026 depends on the level of certainty surrounding trade policy, Paul Fogle, managing director at Carmel, Ind.-based Quality Equipment Finance, told EFN at the event. 

“If the administration can bring some normalcy to the tariff conversations, I think that can help, but it also can flip the other way,” he said. “If there are more threats of higher tariffs, or if the administration thinks we’re getting ripped off, that can have a domino effect on a lot of things.” 

Real estate impact 

The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in September and hinted at two more reductions this year.  

Lower rates could stimulate the real estate market, which would be a major boost for equipment finance, especially if residential construction ramps up, Fogle said. 

“Everything that goes into building a house or a multifamily house, that’s a tremendous economic impact,” he said. “Getting people to buy more liquidity in the housing market could be a real big boon.”

“It’s amazing the impact that real estate has on the economy.” 

— Paul Fogle, Quality Equipment Finance

Lenders that offer floating-rate loans may not directly benefit from lower interest rates, but would benefit from the overall economic impact as equipment affordability and consumer sentiment improve, Fogle said. 

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