A Developer Confused by 'the Grid' During Handoff

During a design handoff meeting, a developer asks: "Your spec says this card has 24px padding, but also says the page uses a 12-column grid with 24px gutters. Are these the same grid? Do I need to make the card's padding a function of the column width?"

1. Explain, precisely, why this developer's confusion is understandable and what the actual answer is.
2. Give a short, concrete explanation you'd give the developer that clears up the distinction for good.
3. Name one design-token consequence of getting this distinction right — i.e., what should exist in the codebase as a result of treating these as two separate systems.